Fostering Interactions at Public Open Spaces. The Role of Physical Interface in Facilitating User Interactions in the UAE

Over the past few decades, the importance of public open spaces has been substantially increased due to rapid urbanization and developments. Likewise, cities and communities in the Arab world are also going through urban transformation; driven by the global context in which cities are being reshaped along with the modernization of urban planning themes. Over the last 15 years, Dubai has emerged as one of the world’s fastest growing cities. It has been associated with the desire to build tall buildings as a statement of modernity, globalization, and economic prosperity, which lead to a rapid growth in population. This expansion has caused many environmental and urban planning challenges. Hasty urbanization, demographic, and economic growth alongside land privatization process has progressively changed the nature and theme of public open spaces within the UAE which in turn creates a gap between social life and community urban planning. The regeneration of public open spaces in cities of the UAE is a major issue as multiple factors must be taken into consideration during the design stages. This paper aims at understanding the role of physical interface of the public open spaces in context of UAE and its transformation over the years. These spaces act as a catalyst which accelerate this transformation of urban scenario and there by citizens life. Open places play an important role for bringing people closer and act as a socio-cultural entity for the sake of improving social life and interactivity. Social well-being arises from a sense of security, belonging, familiarity, support, cohesion, and integration of social groups, based on respect for different cultures, traditions, and backgrounds. Hence this research analyzes the influence of such tangible and intangible elements in the public open spaces, through which the social interaction happens and offers unprecedented experience to the users, visitors and urban community alike.