Two architects from Dubai win the 2019 Smart City design award.

Smart Cities is a category for designs that anticipate and address future challenges. And X-Space, a project reimagining urban spaces in Dubai, won with its highly practical ideas.

Sheikh Zayed Road has long been known as a major artery of Dubai, with 14 lanes of highway running the length of the city. It is the busiest road in Dubai, where traffic congestion is frequent and extremely severe.

Faced with this situation, two young architects, Mouaz Abouzaid and Dima Faraj, collaborated on the X-space project to transform Sheikh Zayed from a center of smog and congestion into a green oasis where pedestrians will have a wonderful space.

Specifically, the X-space project will utilize one kilometer of highway to create a space for fresh air, greenery, and recreation for residents. Inspired by the movement of desert sand dunes, the project will exist on two levels: a ground level comprising gardens, trees, and open spaces, and an upper level with recreational amenities such as a café and gym. This area will be designed exclusively for bicycles and pedestrians. Car access will pass through a tunnel beneath the gardens.

WAF describes these plans as "a compelling vision for the revitalization of downtown Dubai" by prioritizing pedestrians and cyclists over other vehicles. X-space will reduce reliance on cars and promote a more sustainable lifestyle.

“The philosophy behind X-Space is to develop an urban fabric focused on sharing, integration, and harmony with human urbanism, a place where people can live, work, and play. X-Space’s design will connect space with people at the heart of Sheikh Zayed Road in rich diversity,” said Mouaz Abouzaid at the awards ceremony.

Abouzaid also acknowledged the challenges in realizing the project, particularly finding solutions for rerouting affected traffic because not all vehicles can pass through the tunnel proposed in the design.

However, the architects are very optimistic about the prospects of delivering X-Space, given its award from the WAF and positive feedback from government officials. This is because, at this stage, the Dubai government is moving towards sustainable development, setting goals such as using 75% clean energy by 2050, supported by the development of large-scale infrastructure connecting communities and a shift towards cleaner public transportation rather than private cars.

Initiatives to transform congested roads into communal social spaces have emerged in Spain and South Korea, demonstrating that sharing living spaces and spiritual culture will become a widespread trend in the future.

In addition, the winning projects will be exhibited at the World Architecture Festival in Amsterdam in early December.

My Tong