This is an excerpt from the recently published book, “Smart Cities: Reimagining the Urban Experience”, published by Quality Press, 2023 (ISBN-113: 978-1636941103)
In my experience, Master Planning for the Digital Age has been a continuous balancing exercise in analyzing past, present and future information while managing expectations of a broad swath of people, while always asking who is paying for all of this. I have deep respect for elected officials, appointed officials and staffers in city administrations around the world that have to manage and administer urban environments. It is at times a thankless job and other times an amazing job, a job that our world needs amazing people to lead by example. The master plan of any city is a moving target that is constantly being challenged by events that in some cases were unforeseen. The COVD-19 pandemic as an example. The adaptability and adoptability of a master plan is one of the great challenges to our city’s leaders.
With this in mind and with the experience of working closely with government leaders and officials over the years, our company takes our master planning very seriously and builds flexibility into every solution. Our process includes taking that city’s smart cities priorities (we call a stack) and ensuring that innovation projects are slotted in a timeline that is sensitive to budget pressures and scheduling while always having consistent storytelling and communication of the bigger picture with internal administration and the general public. This approach is not perfect, but over time, the rhythm of what, why, where and how innovative projects are implemented and measured will become trusted, providing permission for the next stack of priorities to begin their process. It works like a large organism with external elements pushing into the plan while internal elements are grabbing for attention. Someone once mentioned that our master planning process is like making sausages, not pretty during the process, but delicious and good looking at the end of the process. Using the main outcomes of the master plan as a touchstone for storytelling is another best practice we are seeing being used. The reference to the United Arab Emirate’s Happiness Index is a good example of this. By utilizing many small projects as measures to an overall happiness index, shows people that even one person can have an effect on the community.
In the case of both new smart cities and existing city planning, our company begins its master planning and metrics with the discovery of the cultural anthropology of the people that either will reside or are residing in that urban environment. Our work with Dr. Karen Stephenson and her identifying, analyzing, and providing insight into how people in a specific location has proved to be our secret sauce in designing and developing urban environments that delight. In Dr. Stephenson’s network science process, the cultural aspects of studying human behavior also take into consideration elements like climate, geography, history, cuisine, celebrations, traditions, mythologies, placemaking destinations, and values that are unique to that specific location on planet Earth. Mixing these elements into a matrix and heterarchy provides us with a roadmap of what is important to the community in an accelerated method, providing conversations much earlier in the master planning process than traditional methods.
Some background on Dr. Stepheson’s approach. Network science is an interdisciplinary field that studies complex networks in biological, physical, and social phenomena. Research in human dynamics emerged in the mid-twentieth century utilizing graph theory to mechanistically model computer networks onto more ephemeral small group dynamics. 21st century research witnessed a fusing of virtual and physical worlds and how data from those worlds is captured and calibrated in human-ecological-financial systems.
Establishing Protocols for Human and Social Capital is to recognize the relevance and importance of human digital data in this field of inquiry. Currently, IHEs (Institutes of Higher Education) struggle to keep up, but governments and private corporations have moved forward, making entrepreneurial inroads, only stopping short of establishing protocols and policies.
We use this human-centric approach as our constant reference as we move further into our development of a smart cities master planning process. When we are planning a greenfield urban environment, we have to take into consideration that we are fast-tracking a traditional urban growth process at a quantum scale. Usually, cities grow over long periods of time. Most cities start out as trading posts, gathering people together that learn overtime how to live, work, play and learn. In the case of most greenfield smart cities, there are little to no local resources to draw from and there needs to be the seeds of inhabitants to begin the process.
To better understand the true complexities of smart cities, one must break down the existing beliefs we currently operate within. One needs to open the door to a new future and foster a new acceptance of the virtual world, which will change the manner in which we approach design, construction, energy, transit, housing, safety and education. Yes, this is a very large topic of discussion, but I hope to shine a light on new solutions that, implemented together, could very well promote an environmentally cleaner, more energy efficient, and ergonomically friendlier life experience for humanity in the future.
I have learned that Utopia does not exist in the Digital Age, but we can try to build upon human wants, needs and desires to do our best to achieve healthy, livable, and sustainable futures.
Currently Under Construction:
- There are 12,000 units under construction in Dubai Hills.
- Out of these, 11,600 are apartment units, that’s double the current ready apartment supply.
That may sound like a lot, but here’s where it gets interesting...
Delivery Schedule:
- Dubai Hills is expected to deliver about 2,900 units per year until 2029.
(This gradual rollout is important, it avoids flooding the market all at once.)
Impact on Rent and Prices:
- Despite the new supply, rents have remained stable for the past 6 months.
- At the same time, sale prices continue to grow steadily.
This is a strong signal of healthy demand.
Absorption Rate Tells the Story:
- 2024: 1,600 property transfers
- 2025 YTD: 1,144 transfers
- Rented Units: 3,800 in 2025, compared to 5,400 in 2024
What this tells us is that Dubai Hills is absorbing supply efficiently, and it’s not just investors flipping units.
Most buyers are long-term holders who are either living there or renting for yield.
Why Dubai Hills Remains Stable:
The key reason? The developer & community manager.
They are managing the community and development pace with care.
My Take:
Dubai Hills is not heading toward oversupply, it’s a well-managed, high-demand community.
As long as delivery remains steady and controlled, supply will meet demand, not exceed it.
Absorption, demand quality, and developer control is what makes a community resilient.