Abstract:The United Arab Emirates is experiencing a challenging turn towards sustainable social housing. Conventional neighborhood planning and design principles are being replaced by those leading to more sustainable urban forms. To trace this challenging move, the research has investigated the degree of consideration of sustainable urban design principles in two social housing neighborhoods in Al Ain City in Abu Dhabi Emirate, UAE. The first represents a conventional urban form based on the neighborhood theory; the other represents the new sustainable design. The ultimate aim is to define the obstacles hindering the full achievement of a sustainable urban form in this housing type. To undertake research investigations, a matrix of the design principles of sustainable urban forms has been initiated in order to facilitate the assessment of the urban forms of the two selected urban communities. Some qualitatively measurable design elements have been defined for each of these principles. The results of the analysis of the shift from 'conventional' to 'sustainable' case studies have revealed some aspects that would prevent the attainment of fully sustainable urban forms in newly designed social housing neighborhoods. Finally, the research concludes by recommending some fundamental actions to help meet these challenges in future design.

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Among the three pillars of sustainability, social sustainability has received the least attention, especially among the studies addressing the sustainable housing development in Dubai’s urban neighborhoods. Unfortunately, these neighborhoods are not showing enough vibrancy of their public spaces and amenities which seemingly undermined their social sustainability. The lack of a comprehensive tool that can assess the interlinked indicators of social sustainability in urban neighborhoods has urged the research to propose an Integrated Measuring Tools Method (IMTM), that incorporates relevant computational simulation techniques alongside the appropriate conventional qualitative tools. The proposed IMTM was utilized in assessing the social sustainability indicators within the urban form of an existing neighborhood in Dubai. The assessment revealed that various urban form characteristics including; density, land-use, mobility options, mobility networks, streets layouts, and the built environment’s safety and aesthetic qualities, are the main factors undermining social sustainability in the studied locality. The results informed a set of suggested redevelopment strategies/guidelines for this neighborhood that takes into consideration the exiting constraints and opportunities. These included; increasing density by infill development, redefining land-use to achieve diversity in housing types and decentralized amenities, diversifying mobility options, improving the spatial integration of the mobility networks while restraining the private cars movement, improving accessibility, enriching urban landscape, and finally enhancing the quality of amenities and services. A social sustainability redevelopment scenario was suggested based on these strategies. When compared to the exiting neighborhood utilizing the IMTM, it proved significantly better attainment of social sustainability principles. So, it might be claimed that the proposed IMTM and its outcomes proved to be a valid basis for assessing, redeveloping and validating social sustainability of existing neighborhoods with similar typology in Dubai, and potentially in the region.

The Sheikh Zayed Housing Program is the major public housing program in The United Arab Emirates. Through this program hundreds of single family houses for Emirati citizens are being developed every year. The current commitment of the UAE government towards adopting sustainability in the building sector including the housing one initiated a lot of initiatives addressing the issue including this research. The main concern of the research is to go beyond the environmental aspects of sustainability and to address the social and cultural considerations of it in the typical design models of the public houses adopted by The Sheikh Zayed Housing Program. As many public housing projects have been constructed in Al Ain, a city intensively occupied by Emirati citizens, and five housing models prevailed in the city were selected as the scope for this qualitative research with its multi-facets analytical tools including questionnaires and expert analysis of the architectural designs of these models. It has been found that only four out of the eight principles of socio-cultural sustainability in houses have been significantly achieved while other two principles have been found to be partially achieved, and the remaining two principles have been assessed as poorly achieved. Based on these findings, the research has proposed eight design guidelines which are envisaged to help realizing socio-cultural sustainability in the design of the public houses in Al Ain, and in UAE in general.

While the urban waterfront is crucial to shaping the city image, it also contributes to the quality of life of the city's inhabitants and visitors. The Waterfront of Abu Dhabi city, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has witnessed influential changes in the last 20 years. This research aims at discussing the relationship between urban form and social sustainability in a very recent urban regeneration of a waterfront project in Abu Dhabi city, the Zayed Port's waterfront project. The attainment of the social sustainability principles in the urban regeneration project was explored through examining the existence of these principles through an established theoretical framework. The theoretical framework included the main social sustainability principles of compactness and density, mixed-use and social mix, mobility, equitable access and spatial integration, safety and security, identity of place, and community participation. The utilized qualitative/quantitative tools of the case study method encompassed Space Syntax analysis of the urban form through relevant DepthmapX simulation variables. The assessment results revealed the gaps and potentials related to the application of these principles in the proposed design of the urban regeneration waterfront project of Zayed Port. Based on these outcomes, a set of social sustainability enhancement strategies has been recommended. The applied method with its tools as well as the revealed outcomes is envisaged to be significant to consider in the current and future urban regeneration designs of waterfront projects in the UAE's cities distinguished with their long waterfronts such as Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, and other cities, to assure the achievement of social sustainability principles in this important type of urban development.