21st Century (2000–present)

Dubai Marina Masterplan

2000– · United Arab Emirates · Middle East & Turkey · Post-industrial regeneration and waterfront urbanism · Planned by Emaar; HOK (early urban design)

Aerial view of the Dubai Marina under construction (2007) showing the artificial 3-km canal and the ring of towers arranged around it - the HOK/Emaar master-plan geometry. The original HOK master-plan · cc-by-sa

Core idea

Canal city with high-rise residential

Why it matters

Iconic high-density waterfront living

Description

The Dubai Marina Masterplan, initiated around 2000 by developer Emaar with early urban design by HOK, created an artificial canal city on the Gulf coast of Dubai. A three-kilometre excavated waterway brought seawater inland to form a marina lined with a dense wall of high-rise residential towers, a continuous public walkway and podium retail, drawing on precedents such as Vancouver's False Creek waterfront.

Significance

Dubai Marina became an icon of high-density waterfront living in the Gulf and a template for developer-led megaprojects across the region. It figures in debates on manufactured waterfronts, tower-podium urbanism and the export of North American waterfront models to speculative real-estate economies.

What shaped it

The skyscraper (1885)
Containerised-logistics scale-up (1970s–1990s)
Neoliberalism (1970s–1990s)
Delirious New York (1978)
Splintering Urbanism (Graham & Marvin) (2001)

Plans it influenced

Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan (2021)
Belgrade Waterfront Masterplan (2014–)
Bahrain National Plan 2030 (2008)
Yas Island Masterplan (Abu Dhabi) (2006–)
Dubai Business Bay Masterplan (2003–)
Lusail City Masterplan (Qatar) (2006–)
Diyar Al Muharraq (Bahrain) (2006–)
Forest City (Johor, Malaysia) Masterplan (2014–)

Sources

Open it on the interactive timeline →

hub.toekom.st — History of Urbanism · an interactive timeline of 850 planned cities across 6,000 years.