Dubai’s Urban Tech District: Pioneering a New Era of Innovation in Urban Technology

Dubai’s Urban Tech District will become a living laboratory where innovation & entrepreneurship in urban technology come together to thrive.

DUBAI’S SMART CITY PUSH only gets better and better. An urban technology park known as Urban Technology District (URB) will soon open on Dubai’s Creekside. Dubai is better positioned to lead the transformation of urban tech than any other city in the world. The Urban Tech District will be a new global tech hub for urban innovation.

URB Architecture Office has received an important mission to lead, plan, and engineer the world’s largest urban technology district with the lowest carbon emissions in an area called Al-Jadaf.

The construction of the world’s largest urban technology district will use low-carbon approaches and, in addition to making Dubai an urban hub for innovation and enabling a unique technology ecosystem in the UAE and around the world, it will also be home to world-class entrepreneurs. will become In addition, it will have several commercial and educational facilities.

In addition, according to the URB website, the new zone will provide facilities for conferences, education, research, seminars, business support and assistance, and more.

The Urban Tech district will also be home to the Urban Tech Institute, which will foster the next generation of urban tech leaders and make research and education in urban technology more accessible. As an emerging sector, urban tech is a new field of study and will grow rapidly as cities worldwide look towards creating a more livable environment for their residents.

A HOME FOR THE MOST INNOVATIVE ENTREPRENEURS IN THE WORLD

The Urban Tech District will create 4000 jobs in green urban tech, education, and training. It will also be home to venture capitals that will fuel entrepreneurs, thus empowering a unique collaborative urban tech ecosystem.

Urban Tech will be at the core of all future cities. Tech-enabled urban developments seek to provide solutions to the challenges created by urbanisation in various areas such as zero-mile food production, food security, affordable & scalable renewable energy, low energy demand water harvesting, zero-waste management, and waste to energy solutions. These are just some of the many challenges our cities our facing.

Baharash Bagherian, the CEO of URB, the company behind the project, said:  “Dubai is best positioned to lead the Urban Tech Transformation than any other city in the world. The Urban Tech District will be a new global tech hub for urban innovation. With a total of 140,000 square metres of built up area, it will be the world’s largest urban tech district. Thus making Dubai the centre for urban innovation.”

The new district will provide facilities for conferences, training, research, seminars, business incubation as well as various amenities. The building will also offset all its embodied carbon emissions from construction & operation. As a net zero carbon district, the development will help to reduce the carbon footprint of its partner businesses, thus enabling a low-carbon workforce.

Innovation will be at the heart of the Urban Tech District. The district will enable the growth of urban-tech solutions at a much larger scale, as well as provide investment opportunities to innovators that are tackling some of the most critical issues related to sustainable cities. The district will provide opportunities for a new breed of innovative companies that require a platform to grow rapidly.

The district will also be home to the urban tech institute, which will foster the next generation of urban tech leaders. The institute will provide opportunities to pilot new innovations based on applied research whilst driving public private partnerships.

KEY FACTS

• 140,000 m2
• 4,000 jobs
• State-of-the-art facilities
• Educational & training facilities
• F&B outlets
• Conference facilities
• Seminar rooms
• Shared-desk spaces
• Dedicated offices

DUBAI URBAN TECH DISTRICT WILL BE A
NEW GLOBAL HUB FOR URBAN INNOVATION

WHAT IS URBAN TECH?

Urban tech is a term to describe any technology that addresses the challenges of urban living. More equitable living conditions can be created by integrating urban tech in the planning of cities. New advances in urban technology can have a significant influence on how our cities can provide a more livable and resilient environment for their citizens. As societies become increasingly digital, the need for impactful urban technologies has become a necessity.

Yet the term is rapidly evolving to also address the environmental challenges and threats of climate change. Thus “green urban tech” is also a new term growing in trend.  The role of urban tech districts is to cultivate the growth of companies that are conceiving & developing such technologies to create a collaborative urban tech eco system.

ZERO CARBON DISTRICT

As a net zero carbon district, the development will help to reduce the carbon footprint of its partner businesses, thus enabling a low-carbon workforce. The district will thus become a benchmark for UAE’s sustainable future & net zero target goals. Each business in the district will enroll in a tenant zero carbon engagement program, which aims to help tackle emissions collectively by raising awareness & optimizing operational performance towards net zero.

Onsite urban farming will provide food to table for the various F&B outlets. Onsite renewable solar farms will offset the energy demand of the building. The climate-controlled atriums are highly energy efficient, which are cooled by evaporative cooling using 100% fresh air.

The design of the buildings also uses advanced passive and active sustainable practices with an aim of reducing the overall energy demand of the building. At a typology level, the development maximized the use of flexible multifunctional spaces to minimize redundancy of space usage & increase the sharing of resources. This will also allow for the open plan spaces to be more easily adapted in the future for other uses should it be required.

At a building level, sensors play a key role. Indoor lighting and temperature can automatically be adjusted based on various variables. These variables include the number of occupants in a room, the time of day as well as exterior weather and light conditions. All buildings will have embedded sensors to detect motion, temperature, noise, moisture, fire, smoke etc… to provide real-time data and help improve operational efficiency, safety and security.

The way we interact with our cities, such as the services and systems that support them, will highly influence our quality of life. Thus creating an urban tech ecosystem has become a necessity to enable more liveable & resilient cities. Urban tech is also an economic opportunity to enable a circular economy & create more green jobs in various sectors, such as energy, water, waste, food, mobility & building materials.

Urban tech can have a significant impact on how we live, work and thrive together in our cities. Many sectors require critical innovations in areas such as mobility, food, water, energy, waste etc. The rapid increase in climate change, coupled with urbanization and  population rise is also fueling the need for cities to become zero-carbon. Thus,  global cuts in carbon emissions are enabling cities to reinvent themselves through urban tech.

Urban Tech District will become home to innovators & entrepreneurs, providing the necessary support and help with investments to enable more livable, resilient & sustainable cities.

Conveniently, this news comes along with Dubai’s 2040 Urban Master Plan announced earlier this year. The plan outlined the Emirate’s development over the next 20 years and how they hope to achieve it. It also covered the matter of sustainability and the importance of Dubai being developed under those values so that a balance between community and tourism is established while also embracing heritage and modernity at the same time. An innovation hub based on opportunity, technology, and a sense of purpose are all values at the core of Dubai’s growth as a smart city.

Link: www.urb.ae