World learns from Abu Dhabi

World learns from Abu Dhabi
James Bennett

Abu Dhabi has been identified as the ultimate “power city” of the next millennium in a survey of 130 global cities drawn up by one of the world’s largest property advisory firms.

In its fourth biennial World Winning Cities study, Jones Lang LaSalle unveiled Abu Dhabi as the “power city” that would become one of the world’s fastest growing “urban stars” and be on the “radar screen of the real estate industry” for the next decade.

The company also predicted that Abu Dhabi would be a “city of substance” by 2010, a “regional hub” by 2015 and a “world winning city” by 2020, a decade ahead of its proposed Plan 2030.

“In our first study in 2002, we highlighted Dubai, Dublin and Las Vegas as being among a new wave of city winners. However, this year’s winner is Abu Dhabi, [which] in the past used to learn from other cities, but now other cities are learning from Abu Dhabi and its approach and impressive vision for the future,” said Blair Hagkull, the managing director for the Middle East and North Africa at Jones Lang LaSalle.

“It now has a lot to teach the world and in a decade, it has gone from being a student to being a teacher,” Mr Hagkull said.

The company chose Abu Dhabi after extensive research assessing more than 130 countries and cities. It assessed 10 principles of city competitiveness: performance, population, planning, power, place making (events, culture, meeting places), purity (sustainability, quality of life, environment), people, physical and property.

The report stated that Abu Dhabi offered one of the most favourable combinations of ingredients to become an emerging world-winning city, as well as having a chance to learn from the successes and challenges of Dubai.

“The predominant factor is its ambition to become a truly sustainable world-class city based on massive infrastructure investment, large real estate development, world-leading cultural facilities and major events, underpinned by significant population and employment growth,” said Mr Hagkull.

The report said the city was fully embracing urban master-planning with the launch of Plan Abu Dhabi 2030. This, it said, was unique to the region and created a “structured and clearly articulated framework for the city’s long-term growth”.

It added that the city epitomised a fresh spirit of city building, which is almost “unmatched anywhere else in the world”.

“We believe that Abu Dhabi is a city to watch over the next decade with an importance and influence that is expected to extend well beyond its immediate geography,” Mr Hagkull said.

“It is not often you get a city of fewer than one million people that has so much global influence. How many countries with such a small population have as much power as Abu Dhabi? Virtually none. It is one of the most influential cities in the world in the fact that it is a city that is not only building itself, but also helping to build others around the world.

“Historically, it learnt lessons from other places around the world, but now people are coming to Abu Dhabi, international firms like ours, to learn from what it is doing. Its influence is now being applied to other cities around the world. It is not only the capital city that is growing, but it is emerging as a global investor.”

The report said Abu Dhabi was chosen as this year’s winning city despite Dubai’s growth and proximity.

“Abu Dhabi’s city planners have clearly watched Dubai’s less controlled growth and, arguably, an erosion of its local heritage to formulate their own expansion agenda,” the report said. “One that puts culture and community ahead of pure commercialisation.”

Mr Hagkull said: “Abu Dhabi is complementing Dubai. It is not often you get two very different cities 150km apart growing at such a rate. Both have different focuses. Abu Dhabi is in a unique position that it can learn from what Dubai has done well and the mistakes it has made and build on them.”

The research also identified the challenges ahead for the city and emirate.

The main challenges, said Mr Hagkull, would be for the city planners to carefully manage its ambitious expansion plans and, from a property perspective, to ensure the market was transparent.

The city would also have to cultivate indigenous growth and ensure sufficient differentiation in its offer from neighbouring Dubai, he said.

“Not only does a transparent market attract global property investors, but crucially it is a key constituent of an open and globally connected city,” the report said, adding that it was imperative the city attracted top quality multinational corporations to “feed” it with intellectual capital.

“The challenges for Abu Dhabi are that it is a very young and very fast growing city. There is a lot of pressure being put on some very young institutions and some that are only just being formed,” said Mr Hagkull.

“Infrastructure could hamper its progress. The challenge for any city is infrastructure.

“There are many things under one vision, but the key will be for that to be effectively distributed to the right people. It will need organisations like the Urban Planning Council to take the pressure off the leadership.

“Usually, the biggest risk is that ambition and capital don’t meet. Abu Dhabi has laid out a very clear and defined vision and the risk is not being able to achieve that. Abu Dhabi has the chance to be the epitome of a 21st century city, but you won’t have to wait until 2030 to see the city being completed. The majority of its ambitions will be achieved well before that date.”

jbennett@thenational.ae