Examining Estidama

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(Rajesh Raghav/ITP; X Architects/ Images)

Estidama seems like an intelligent and comprehensive way to move forward with large-scale development. Why haven't places like Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah or other Gulf countries tried to implement Estidama-like strategies?

We are still in the very early stages. Estidama cannot be randomly applied just anywhere. We are moving slowly and carefully at this stage to make sure that Estidama makes sense for everybody in Abu Dhabi. It is a standard that could work for the whole country.

Countries throughout the GCC could potentially apply it as long as it is well-planned and carefully implemented. It is about social, cultural, economic and environmental sustainability.

Given those four pillars, could you tweak Estidama for a North African context? How about an American or European one?

Society. Culture. Economy. Environment. These are the driving principles. They are concerns in every country, everywhere in the world, but Estidama might not be able to fit everywhere because each market has its own specific challenges and infrastructure in place.

Developing a guideline and communicating it to different stakeholders has its own challenges, but it also has the potential to create an industry by itself. For example, only building materials that allow for sustainable design and construction are used in Estidama projects. That could have a huge impact on industries that don't yet exist in the region.

Remember, Estidama has a social element as well. From a social point of view, Estidama is about identifying common social goals and creating and organizing a society to meet them. That is an incredibly difficult task to accomplish.

In your opinion, is Estidama the future of sustainable living?

I'd like say that we're creating a roadmap for the future with Estidama but the focus right now is really on whether or not this is something that works for this context. Can it be understood? Will it attract the necessary investment from stakeholders in the UAE? Is there sufficient interest from foreign agencies or investors? These are the questions we're facing right now.

I'd like to see this become a regional solution to sustainable living but we're not there yet. At this stage, regional application is a premature discussion. Although, working with other groups that are looking to develop their own initiative based on the Estidama model is also something that we welcome. I think that would be a wonderful opportunity for both parties to learn from each other, compliment one another and collaborate on projects.

Again, this is not about who is first. It's about developing something that really makes sense for the city, for the society and the end users. Estidama is about building communities.

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