‘Abu Dhabi will always surprise you.’ Mohammed Ali al Shorafa, Department of Municipalities and Transport chairman, sets out the city’s ambition
At the UAE’s inaugural Livex, Al Shorafa explains how he wants the emirate to become the world’s most liveable destination.
On the opening day of Abu Dhabi’s inaugural Livex liveability forum, Mohammed Ali al Shorafa set out an ambition that will require a lot more than good roads and handsome museums. The chairman of the Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT) wants the emirate to become the world’s most liveable destination.
Three days of conversation brought together urban planners, architects, property developers, Hollywood actors and sporting royalty. The constant refrain was, “How do you turn a place into somewhere people want to put down roots?”
Speaking to Monocle Radio at the close of the event, Al Shorafa shared some specific examples of what cities could take away from this week’s learnings.
Why was this the moment to launch Livex?
We wanted to showcase to the world what Abu Dhabi is doing from a liveability perspective and how we are developing; how we’re using digitisation to better understand the needs of communities.
What can other cities learn from Abu Dhabi’s approach to liveability?
In Abu Dhabi, every district has a score derived from 120 different data sets and those are not quantitative. It’s not about how many clinics, pedestrian roads, cycling tracks or parks you have. It’s what the quality of those assets is to that community.
How do we understand the quality of the assets? Because we listen to the community. We always have our own surveys and the data that we capture through our AI systems.
Do international liveability rankings reflect that approach?
I don’t look at the liveability index, which is published annually, because it looks at the quantity of assets, rather than the quality required within those communities. Our components are additional to what they have in those indices.
What makes somewhere lovable as well as liveable?
Family, health, safety, faith – all of these are values. And when you have these values translated or reflected in the way that people are living, the quality of life that they have, this is where you have people living in a happy environment. We are trying to understand better what education this community needs. If we can translate the values of the UAE into the communities, including tolerance, people will be very happy.
How do residents’ health needs influence what you build?
When we look at communities, we actually look at their health data as well. So when we find a community that has a very high obesity rate or diabetes rate, the parks, cycle tracks or gyms that we develop are targeted to those people. If you have a new community with young people, we have a completely different programme for them based on their health needs. It’s a complete integrated government framework of liveability.
Is the Guggenheim the final piece of Abu Dhabi’s cultural district?
Abu Dhabi will always surprise you. If you’re asking me, is the Guggenheim the last piece of the puzzle? Maybe not. Disneyland and the Sphere are coming but that’s not the end of it. We have a complete plan until 2040 and we are not changing our course.
Will Livex return next year?
100 per cent. And as I mentioned, we are taking Livex global as well. That’s the directive.
