Assessment of Social Sustainability in Urban Regenerated Neighborhoods in the United Arab Emirates: A Local Community Perspective

Abstract

Derived by its current 2030 Urban Structure Plan, Al-Ain City is currently experiencing an active urban regeneration process through the revitalization of existing neighbourhoods and districts. One of the pioneering projects within this plan is the Asharij district urban redevelopment as a new Gateway Transit Corridor. This study focuses on Bida’ Bin Ammar neighbourhood as the most important neighborhood in this district. Based on the developed conceptual framework for social sustainability principles and their relevant indicators on the urban neighbourhood level, six main principles with their related indicators were identified from literature. These principles include availability of basic needs, accessibility, social equity, safety, social coherence, and sense of identity. The research adopted a qualitative case study method that permitted in-depth neighborhood exploration through appropriate investigation tools of field observations and in-depth interviews with a sample of residents of the selected neighborhood. The findings show that four principles have been mostly achieved, namely, availability of basic needs, accessibility, social equity, and sense of identity. Meanwhile, the remaining two principles of safety and social coherence have been assessed as poorly o not achieved respectively. The research outcomes highlight the importance of local community perspectives about the neighborhood regeneration process in order to improve its future implementation.