Architects Mouaz Abouzaid and Dima Faraj has designed an urban regeneration project and greenway for Dubai. Dubbed X-Space, the project aims to stitch together the city across Sheikh Zayed Road, the main highway that runs through the United Arab Emirates. Inspired by desert dunes and the movement of sand sweeping across paved roads, the proposal includes one kilometer of new public spaces and green areas to give urban space back to the city and its people.
Mouaz Abouzaid explained the concept for the project, saying that, "The philosophy behind X-Space is to develop an urban fabric focused on sharing, integration and tolerance for human scale urbanism, a place where people can live, work and play. Such urban design should connect spaces with people and cultural practices at the heart of Sheikh Zayed Road with rich visual variety, density, connected network systems and human activities." Sheikh Zayed Road is the longest road in the UAE, extending from the Trade Centre Roundabout to Abu Dhabi. The street represents the main artery of Dubai as a symbol of its continuous growth and development.
X-Space would provide retail, food and beverage outlets, trade offices, pathways for pedestrians and cyclists, and a landing platform for small drones. "This is in addition to connecting both sides of the street, from east to west, and linking the past of Dubai to its present from the north to south," added Abouzaid. "The ultimate purpose, objective and goal of X-Space can be represented by [the phrase]: 'cities with less cars', and hopefully, without any cars. This may be [dismissed as] just a dream; however, this is the core idea that reflects what the project aims to do by launching a completely different approach to mobility, bicycle paths, rapid and easily available mass transit, and urban design for light-weight vehicles and drone landing pads."
X-Space consists of two levels: a ground level and an upper level. The ground level is for the movement of people within gardens and multi-use open spaces topped by an office building, restaurants and a gym. The second level is designed for cyclists and pedestrians. X-Space aims to encourage changes in social practices in order to solve the problem of city fragmentation by stitching and creating urban areas that reflect all aspects of life. It is also an idea for new spaces and green lungs in the middle of one of the main streets of Dubai. The project aspires to manifest human-scaled urbanism in daily life.
