TOWARDS SOCIALLY SUSTAINABLE WATERFRONT URBAN REGENERATION: The CASE of ZAYED PORT DESIGN, ABU DHABI

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.