Sustainable Cities and Society 76 (2022) 103496

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Sustainable Cities and Society

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Extracting the Planning Elements for Sustainable Urban Regeneration in

Dubai with AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process)
Jihad Awad *, Chuloh Jung
Department of Architecture, College of Architecture, Art and Design, Ajman University, United Arab Emirates

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Dubai has experienced rapid economic growth and a remarkable urban reformation during last two decades. In
Sustainable Urban Regeneration Dubai’s old urban fabrics, however, the infrastructure and buildings are being deteriorated, the local economy
Sustainability was stagnated, the urban community became weak, and the vitality of the city center was degraded. Dubai’s
Planning Factors
sustainable urban regeneration project called Deira Enrichment Project plans to improve the lagging physical
Dubai
Analytic Hierarchy Process
environment as well as comprehensive urban regeneration across the economy, society, and culture. The
objective of this paper is to investigate the planning elements for sustainable urban regeneration in Dubai and
evaluate the weights of the derived elements. As a methodology, expert brainstorming is conducted with AHP
(Analytic Hierarchy Process) to determine the final planning elements, an expert survey is conducted, and the
importance of sustainable urban regeneration planning elements is analyzed. The AHP results had shown that
Urban Environment Sector (Weight: 0.254, Rank: 1) was the most important factor in top planning elements, as
well as the Economic (Weight: 0.235, Rank: 2) and Social/Cultural Sectors (Weight: 0.194, Rank: 3). Regarding
lower planning elements, Green and Water-friendly Spaces (Weight: 0.252, Rank: 1) is top priority in Urban
Environment Sector, Public Transport-Oriented System (Weight: 0.254, Rank: 1) is top priority in Transportation
Sector, Restoration of Historical and Cultural Resources (Weight: 0.233, Rank: 1) is top priority in Social/Cul­
tural Sector, Policies for Low-Income Families (Weight: 0.257, Rank: 1) is top priority in Economic Sector, and
Energy Efficiency-Oriented Design (Weight: 0.300, Rank: 1) is top priority in Sustainability Sector. This study
will serve as a basic data for sustainable urban regeneration in Dubai.

1. Introduction
Dubai has experienced rapid economic growth and rapid economic
expansion (Min-Allah & Alrashed, 2020; De Jong et al, 2019). It has
implemented a remarkable urban reformation in an explicit effort to
become a nouveau New York (Taleb & Musleh, 2015; Acuto, 2010).
Quantitative urban expansion has continued to accommodate the pop­
ulation rushing to the city, and external expansion has been carried out
by constructing a new city nearby rather than using the existing previous
city center (Deng & Wong, 2020; Alawadi, 2014). Accordingly, the
infrastructure and buildings in the city center were deteriorated grad­
ually, the local economy was stagnated, and the urban community was
weakened, leading to problems in which the vitality of the city center
was degraded (Abusaada et al., 2021; Alawadi, 2017). The Dubai gov­
ernment has begun implementing various urban regeneration policies to
solve the urban physical, environmental, social and economic problems
(Hossein and Khaled, 2021; Bagaeen, 2007). These policies are trying to
reinvigorate the city through the improvement of the city’s physical
environment, the re-creation of local commercial areas, the creation of
new industries and jobs, and the improvement of the cultural welfare
environment (Kourtit et al, 2021; Alawadi & Dooling, 2016). There is,
however, a point that the urban regeneration projects in Dubai are
focused on simple development that does not consider the characteris­
tics of the region, focusing only on physical environment improvement
(Alawadi et al, 2020; Ibrahim et al, 2018). Urban regeneration should
include not only the physical environment improvement, but also the
economic and cultural sectors of the city to ensure the vitality and
sustainability of the city (Rizzo,2017; Roberts et al, 2016). However,
many urban regeneration projects in Dubai are proceeding without
much difference from existing urban redevelopment (Elsheshtawy,
2019; Acuto, 2014). This has the risk that current urban regeneration
project may bring about the same problems as the past new city devel­
opment and may hinders the balance of the city rather than the regen­
eration of the city (Wang et al, 2021; Giblett and Samant, 2012). In order

* Corresponding author. Jihad Awad, Ajman University, P.O. Box 346, Ajman, UAE.
E-mail addresses: j.awad@ajman.ac.ae (J. Awad), c.jung@ajman.ac.ae (C. Jung).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2021.103496
Received 3 June 2021; Received in revised form 18 October 2021; Accepted 22 October 2021
Available online 25 October 2021
2210-6707/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
J. Awad and C. Jung Sustainable Cities and Society 76 (2022) 103496

to solve these problems, Dubai’s urban regeneration project should 2019). Looking at the preceding studies above, it is pointed out that
improve the lagging physical environment as well as comprehensive and urban regeneration in the UAE is biased toward improving the physical
sustainable urban regeneration across the economy, society, and culture environment as in the past redevelopment (Lu et al, 2017). It is
(Sajwani, 2019; Nair, 2020; Arabian Business, 2020). For sustainable emphasized that urban regeneration requires not only the improvement
urban regeneration, study on previous research on the elements for of the physical environment, but also the regeneration of non-physical
sustainable urban regeneration should be preceded and the planning parts such as economy, society, and culture (Ricca, 2018; Reynard et
elements are extracted. Therefore, this study aims to explore the plan­ al, 2017; Boussaa, 2014). As discussed above, there are many previous
ning elements for sustainable urban regeneration and to evaluate the studies on the direction of urban regeneration and systems to be
importance of the derived planning elements. considered in urban regeneration, and there are not many studies on the
planning elements of urban regeneration (Ujang and Zakariya, 2015).
2. Literature Review Therefore, this study is differentiated from previous studies in that it
provides data for evaluating the future sustainable urban regeneration
Sustainable urban regeneration is a regeneration for actions, policies projects by discovering urban regeneration planning elements in
and processes within a city, which address interrelated technical, spatial consideration of sustainability and evaluating their importance
and socioeconomic problems to reduce environmental impact, mitigate (Table 1).
environmental risk, and improve environmental quality of urban sys­ In terms of using AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) in Urban Design
tems, lifestyles and assets (URBACT II, 2015). In most policy and aca­
demic circles, sustainable urban regeneration is agreed that it can be
defined as an aggregate of four basic pillars: economic, environmental, Table 1
Summary of Literature Review for Sustainable Urban Regeneration.
social and institutional (Fig. 1).
The previous research related to sustainable urban regeneration is Author Year Category Research Topics
being actively conducted in various fields, such as suggestion of sus­ Ponzini 2011 Urban Lack of Urban Regulation in Dubai
tainable urban regeneration plans, analysis of the impact of sustainable Governance
urban regeneration projects, foreign sustainable urban regeneration Boussaa 2003 Urban Social Existing Communities of Dubai
Context
case analysis, and research on sustainable urban regeneration planning
Acuto 2010 Urban Economy Dubai’s Dependency on Compulsive
elements. Looking at a study on the UAE urban regeneration plan, Sprawl of Iconic Building
Ponzini (2011) pointed out that UAE’s urban regeneration project lacks Alawadi 2019 Urban Economy Negative environmental Impact of
an institutional system through the case of urban regeneration in Abu Low Density Urban Model
Sepe 2014 Urban Comprehensive Definition of
Dhabi (Ponzini, 2011). Boussaa (2003) analyzed Dubai cultural identity
Couch et al 2011 Environment Sustainable Urban Regeneration
and how to become the catalyst of urban regeneration. In urban Lehmann 2019 Urban Community Movement in Inner City
regeneration, he said, cultural image and maintenance of existing Environment
communities are important planning elements of urban regeneration Balaban 2014 Urban Economy Small Scale Village Development
(Boussaa, 2003). Acuto (2010) argues that Dubai’s contemporary urban Tallon 2013 Urban Economy Economic Empowerment for Urban
Bailey 2012 Communities
restructuring is too dependent on compulsive sprawl of iconic building
McDonald et 2009 Urban Social Sustainable Urban Community with
and such Dubai’s quest for symbolic power can lead to problematic so­ al 1993 Context Integrated Approach
cial effects (Acuto, 2010). Alawadi (2019) explained that Dubai’s early Paddison
urban form was a city with the characteristics of compactness, diversity, Coccolo et al 2018 Urban Revitalizing the Urban Area into an
Governance Active Space
and pedestrian-friendliness, but in 1980, due to the rapid growth of
Hughes et al 2013 Urban Social City Center as a Catalyst for
automobile use, Dubai was transformed into a low-density suburban Context Sustainable Urban Regeneration
model. Despite the current negative environmental and social conse­ Amore 2019 Urban Economy Creating New Functions in an Existing
quences, the low-density model of neighborhood design has not changed City
over the past 30 years and is facing a planning challenge (Alawadi,

Fig. 1. Four Pillars of Sustainable Urban Regeneration.

2
J. Awad and C. Jung
and Planning, Mushtaha et al (2021) used AHP and ENVI-met simulation
to evaluate Urban Heat Island (UHI) factors’ effectiveness (Mushtaha et
al, 2021) and he used AHP to develop a list of building sustainability
criteria and prioritize them in order to identify the most important ones
for the context of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (Mushtaha et al,
2020). Mosadeghi et al (2015) integrated conventional AHP and Fuzzy
AHP to compare in spatial MCDM land-use planning (Mosadeghi et al,
2015). Parry et al (2018) performed the suitability assessment through
AHP model with a set of criteria involving geo-physical and socioeco­
nomic variables for urban planning in Srinagar and Jammu urban cen­
ters of India. The variables taken for the study are slope, altitude, land
use/land cover and existing amenity status (Parry et al, 2018). Akbulut
et al (2018) combined Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and
Geographic Information System (GIS) to provide a systematic suitability
assessment for the metropolitan territory in Istanbul, Turkey and eval­
uate current urbanization patterns. (Akbulut et al, 2018). Ghorbanza­
deh et al (2019) used Interval-AHP Decision Support Model to evaluate
citizen demands for public bus transportation in Mersin city, Turkey.
The collected data was analyzed to attain the overall weights from
passengers, non-passengers and decision makers (Ghorbanzadeh et al,
2019). Afshari & Mafi (2014) conducted land capability assessment for
regional planning using AHP and GIS for Shandiz urban region in Iran
(Afshari & Mafi, 2014). Li et al (2018) performed urban green space
suitability evaluation with the AHP-CV combined weight method for
Fuping, China (Li et al, 2018).
2.1. Sustainable Urban Regeneration
Sustainable urban regeneration began in advanced countries such as
the UK, the US and Japan (Tallon, 2013; Roberts, 2000). The concept of
sustainable urban regeneration in these countries can be said to have a
comprehensive meaning of revitalizing all areas of the city, such as
urban physical environment, industrial & economic, social & cultural
aspects, through maintenance projects for underdeveloped cities (Sepe,
2014; Couch et al, 2011). Sustainable urban regeneration in the US is
being carried out as a central city activation project in connection with
the community movement (Lehmann, 2019). In Japan, sustainable
urban regeneration projects are being carried out through the
Machi-dzukuri village development movement (Balaban and Oliveira,
2014). In the case of the UK, sustainable urban regeneration projects are
being promoted in connection with New Deal for Communities (Tallon,
2013; Bailey, 2012). This sustainable urban regeneration project can be
said to be the concept of an integrated approach that considers both
physical, social, and economic aspects, creating a sustainable urban
community from the existing urban renovation project focused on
improving the physical environment (McDonald et al, 2009; Paddison,
1993). In addition, for sustainable urban regeneration, the economic
base of the urban area is reconstructed, and the physical environment is
improved to promote the return of the population and industry to the
urban area, thereby revitalizing the urban area into an active space
(Coccolo et al, 2018). Furthermore, it was said that the city center would
be able to act as a catalyst for urban revitalization (Hughes et al, 2013).
Amore defined that it is an economic, social and physical revival by
introducing or creating new functions in an existing city that is declining
due to changes in industrial structure and urban expansion centered on
new areas (Amore, 2019) (Table 1).
2.2. Deira Enrichment Project
The meaning of sustainable urban regeneration in the United Arab
Emirates is not very different from that of foreign countries (Furlan and
Faggion, 2015). It is to renew functions in physical, environmental,
social/cultural, and economic aspects or revitalize existing functions
through maintenance projects for part or all of the city while part or all
of the city is not growing but is stagnant or declining (Ahmed, 2017;
Huston et al, 2015). Alawadi mentioned that sustainable urban
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Sustainable Cities and Society 76 (2022) 103496
regeneration in Dubai refers to all actions to heal the physical, social,
and economic problems of existing cities, and it can be said in a broad
sense that encompasses urban redevelopment and urban revitalization
(Alawadi, 2017). Furlan and Faggion mentioned that sustainable urban
regeneration in Dubai promotes the returning of population and in­
dustries in urban areas in order to suppress the indiscriminate external
spread of metropolitan areas and prevent urban decline and seeks to
revitalize the city center by solving the problems of declining regions by
continuously improving the economic, social and environmental con­
ditions of the region (Furlan and Faggion, 2017).
Dubai has transformed from pre-industrial to industrial to post-
industrial status during last 40 years (Stephenson, 2014; Pacione,
2005). The scale and pace of urban development is accelerated by the
unprecedented economic, social and cultural transformation of the city
(Akhavan, 2017; Acuto, 2010). Deira is one of the oldest urban fabric
and used to be the commercial center of Dubai. It started to lose its
momentum, however, after continuous developments along Sheikh
Zayed Road like Bur Dubai, Al Karama, Al Satwa, and Jumeriah (Fig. 2)
(Nassar et al, 2014; Gunder, 2011).
Deira Enrichment Project (DEP) is the sustainable urban regenera­
tion project to revitalize the old economic hub in Dubai (Fig. 3). Not only
revitalizing the physical urban fabrics, its plan includes economic,
environmental, social and institutional aspects to reduce environmental
impact, mitigate environmental risk, and improve environmental qual­
ity of urban systems, lifestyles and assets. The first phase of five districts
with commercial office space, residential and retail spaces is almost
complete to revitalize the economy of old district. It is mega mixed-use
development with environmental-friendly / sustainable design concept
for the community with plazas, neighborhood parks with waterfront
promenade, bicycle routes and transportation hubs with multi-story
parking facility (Warrier, 2020; Elsheshtawy, 2019). Most of all the
master plan shows the respect to the tradition of trade in Deira to design
the souk as the district’s centerpiece (Arabian Business, 2020) to inte­
grate UAE’s heritage with modern lifestyles. The 55.7 hectares master
plan is designed for 50 mixed-use buildings and has 2,200 residential
units, 416 commercial units, 843 retail outlets, F&B units, eight hotels to
boost local economy and remain as sustainable projects with old part of
Deira (Clarke, 2020). The first phase incorporates 311 retail spaces, 317
office units, 977 residential apartments and 573 hotel rooms and
serviced apartments upon completion in 2021 (Nair, 2020). It is the
northern part of the existing Deira area, which is the opposite side from
the old souks and link to Dubai Creek. Even though the objective is the
urban regeneration of old Deira, Deira Enrichment Project only devel­
oped waterfront area and disconnects the link to natural growth of the
city to revitalize the Deira area for the economic success (Fig. 4).
3. Methodology
This study is the first phase study to verify the satisfaction level of the
residents in the Deira Enrichment Project and vicinity to improve the
Dubai Municipality’s policy for Sustainable Urban Regeneration. To this
end, the core of this study is to extract the planning elements for sus­
tainable urban regeneration via expert brainstorming from the objective
expert group. The purpose of the next stage of the study is to use the
same AHP method to survey Deira Enrichment Project and vicinity’s
residents’ satisfaction and to actively reflect it in the policy of Dubai
Municipality’s Sustainable Urban Regeneration in the future.
The temporal scope of this study was limited to 2020, the time of the
survey conducted in this study. The scope of the survey analysis was
targeted to experts in the urban field, and employees of public officials,
academia, and engineering companies in the urban field. This study
consisted of literature research, questionnaire survey, and statistical
analysis based on this. First, the elements of sustainable urban regen­
eration planning are extracted and classified through prior research and
literature review related to urban regeneration. Based on the extracted
planning elements, a pre-expert questionnaire is conducted to determine
J. Awad and C. Jung Sustainable Cities and Society 76 (2022) 103496

Fig. 2. Dubai Map with Landmarks and Districts.

Fig. 3. Deira Enrichment Project in Dubai.

Fig. 4. Master Plan of Deira Enrichment Project in Dubai.

the final planning elements for this questionnaire. After that, an expert 3.1. Analysis Method & Analysis Process
questionnaire is conducted, and the importance of sustainable urban
regeneration planning elements is analyzed based on this. In evaluating alternatives, evaluation techniques can be classified
into uncorrected models and corrected models (Snyder and Lawson,

4
J. Awad and C. Jung
1993). The common point of the uncorrected model is that it is unsuit­
able for objectifying the opinions of various expert groups because the
relative importance is not corrected (Freedman, 2009). In other words,
there is a problem in application in selecting the optimal alternative
through complex data.
The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is a structured survey method
to compose and analyze complex decision-makings, based on mathe­
matics and psychology (Safian et al, 2011). AHP was developed by
Thomas L. Saaty in the 1970s with Ernest Forman to develop Expert
Choice software in 1983 and it has been extensively studied and refined
since then (Vaidya & Kumar, 2006). It is one of the most popular and
widely employed multicriteria methods. The analytic hierarchy process,
as proposed by Saaty (2008), establishes ultimate priorities in order to
achieve a defined goal. The goal is set at the top of an upside-down hi­
erarchy with criteria derived to reach the goal structured at the second
level, sub-criteria at the third level, and alternatives at the lowest level.
A pairwise comparison is then carried out starting from the lowest level
in which each criterion’s contribution to achieve the level above is
assessed (Leal, 2020). A 9-level numerical scale is commonly used to
evaluate the intensity of importance of the criteria, with 1 indicating
equal importance, 5 indicating a strong importance and 9 indicating an
extremely important relation. The process is evaluated using pairwise
comparison matrices in which the criteria and alternatives are quanti­
fied with respect to the goal. Thus, matrix A (n × n) is constructed based
on the number of alternatives n (Equation 1) and accompanied with
values aij where i is the base comparison criteria correlating to row i and j
is the criteria that is being compared to criteria i (Leal, 2020).
⎡ ⎤
1 a12 ⋯ a1n
A=⎣ ⋮ ⋱ ⋮ ⎦ (1)
1/a 1n 1/a2n ⋯ 1
In a reciprocal matrix where aji = 1/aij , matrix A is re-restructured
using Equation 2. To determine the weight of the criteria, the eigen­
vector is solved using Equation 3.
⎡ ⎤
1 a12 ⋯ a1n [ ] [ ]
w w
⎣ ⋮ ⋱ ⋮ ⎦ 1 = λmax 1 (2)
1/a 1n 1/a2n ⋯ 1
w2 w2
AW = λmax W (3)
where W is the matrix weight of the criteria and λmax is the largest
eigenvalue.
To determine the inconsistency of the matrix, the consistency ratio
(CR) is defined by analyzing the consistency index (CI) and the random
index (RI).
λmax − n
CI = (4)
n− 1
λmax,avg − n
RI = (5)
n− 1
Where λmax is the largest eigenvalue, n is the number of alternatives and
λmax,avg is average value of λmax for a (n × n) matrix.
To attain reliable results through a consistent matrix, the CR should
be less than 0.1 as shown in Eq. 6. However, if the CR exceeds 0.1, the
assessment process must be repeated (Klutho, 2013).
CI
CR = < 0.1 (6)
RI
In this survey method, the processes of rating alternatives and
aggregating to find the most relevant alternatives are integrated for
decision-making. It is employed for ranking a set of alternatives or for
the selection of the best in a set of alternatives. The ranking/selection is
done with respect to the overall goal, which is broken down into a set of
criteria (Saaty, 2008).
Among the correction models, the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process)
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Sustainable Cities and Society 76 (2022) 103496
technique has the advantage of being able to quantify qualitative factors
and of securing objectivity in weight calculation (Forman and Gass,
2001). In general, the AHP technique is widely used to derive an optimal
alternative when a problem of choice arises. Therefore, in this study, the
AHP technique was applied to increase objectivity and consider inter­
dependence between evaluation factors (Rezaei and Tahsili, 2018). The
research process from expert brainstorming to define main and sub
planning elements to AHP Analysis to define the weight of main and sub
planning elements is shown in Fig. 5.
Since the purpose of the study is to discover the sustainable urban
regeneration planning elements, the analysis was conducted with an
emphasis on the correlation and weight between the elements. In the
selection process of urban planning elements, in order to extract
objective elements, a brainstorming group of three urban experts was
formed, and similar elements among urban planning elements extracted
from previous studies were integrated through the brainstorming pro­
cess. After that, a questionnaire was prepared based on the elements of
urban planning, and a questionnaire was conducted for experts. Subse­
quently, a consistency test was performed to determine the sustainable
urban regeneration planning elements evaluated by urban experts, and
the consistency test was calculated with Expert Choice 11.0 software
(64-bits), developed by Expert Choice Inc. It is decision-making software
based on multi-criteria decision making and implements the Analytic
Hierarchy Process (AHP). The weights for each criterion were finalized
through the results obtained here, and the importance of the sustainable
urban regeneration planning elements was evaluated (Lichfield et al,
2016).
3.2. Expert Brainstorming
In this study, planning concepts related to urban regeneration and
prior studies related to urban regeneration were reviewed to derive
sustainable urban regeneration planning elements. In relation to urban
regeneration, planning elements were derived based on theories of
similar planning concepts such as New Urbanism, Sustainable Devel­
opment, Smart Growth, Compact City, and Urban Growth Management
(Peng and Peng, 2018; Jepson Jr. and Edwards, 2010). Also, based on
the studies in Alawadi (2016, 2017, 2020), Furlan and Faggion (2015,
2017), and Amore (2019), planning elements in the physical, economic,
and social aspects based on the concept of urban regeneration were
considered. Brainstorming was conducted by forming a group consisting
of one expert from the government, academia, and engineering com­
panies based on the planning elements derived from related theories and
previous research. In the brainstorming process, the derived elements
were classified by item and the overlapping items were integrated. The
planning elements were largely categorized into physical and
non-physical planning elements, and the physical planning elements
were classified into urban environment and transportation. The plan­
ning elements in the non-physical aspect were divided into social/­
cultural sectors, economic sectors, and resource and energy efficiency
sectors. There was an opinion to include business feasibility in the
non-physical aspect of the planning element, but it was not finally
selected. In the case of resource and energy efficiency, it was classified as
a top item in the opinion of experts that it was considered to be a very
important item for urban sustainability, although it was an item that did
not have a large weight in previous studies or related theories.
3.3. Sustainable Urban Regeneration Planning Elements
The sustainable urban regeneration plan elements derived through
expert brainstorming are composed of 5 upper elements and 25 lower
elements, as shown in Table 2. The upper element consists of five sec­
tors: urban environment sector, transport sector, social/cultural sector,
economic sector, sustainability sector, and each upper element is clas­
sified into five lower elements. Looking at the upper elements, the urban
environment sector acts as a major driving force in urban regeneration.
J. Awad and C. Jung
Fig. 5. The Research Process from Expert Brainstorming to AHP Analysis.
This is because it is possible to directly confirm that the city is changing
and improving through the improvement of the physical environment.
As for the elements of the urban environment sector, consideration of
the urban landscape, open spaces, green and water-friendly spaces, and
advancement of land use can serve as sub-elements. Transportation is an
important factor in sustainable urban regeneration. In particular, the
safe and convenient public transportation enable residents in areas
where urban regeneration projects are planned to move comfortably.
Through this, it will not only improve the quality of urban atmosphere,
but also make it possible to create a sustainable eco-friendly city in the
future. The sub-elements of the transportation sector consist of a public
transport-oriented transportation system, a pedestrian road system and
bicycle roads, the establishment of a transfer system, and the connection
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Sustainable Cities and Society 76 (2022) 103496
of a wide-area transportation network. The social/cultural sector en­
ables the city to grow into a unique city based on its existing social/
cultural identity in urban regeneration and achieve sustainable growth.
The sub-elements of the socio-cultural sector consist of the economic
sector is a very important element for the sustainable urban regenera­
tion. The biggest factor in the decline of cities is that they have
economically declined, and modern cities must also prepare economic
responses amid globalization and changes in economic activity. In the
case of the UK, an advanced country in urban regeneration, the devel­
opment of urban policy over the past 30 years can be said to have been
the process of responding to changes in urban economy and spatial
expression accordingly, and economic policy for urban regeneration
played a very important role at the center of it. Elements of the economic
J. Awad and C. Jung
Table 2
The Planning Elements for Sustainable Urban Regeneration.
Main Elements Sub-Elements
Urban Environment Consideration of the Urban Landscape
Sector Open Spaces for Urbanscape
Green and Water-friendly Spaces
Efficient Land Use
Prevention Measures for Contaminated Facilities
Transportation Sector Public Transport-Oriented System
Pedestrian Road System
Establishment of a Transfer System
Connection of a Wide-Area Transportation Network.
Bicycle Roads with Careem Bike
Social/Cultural Sector Restoration and Utilization of Historical and Cultural
Resources
Expansion of Medical and Welfare Facilities
Expansion of Public and Educational Facilities
Local Community Facilities
Opportunities for Various Housing Choices
Economic Sector Policies for Existing Commercial Districts
Foster Specialized Businesses and Facilities
Create New Jobs
Migrant and Resettlement Policies for Low-Income
Families
Provision of Social Housing.
Sustainability Sector Active Use of Natural Energy using Solar/Wind Power
Energy Efficiency-Oriented Design
Waste Reprocessing and Waste Reduction Policies
Construction considering the Life Cycle of the Building
Heat Island Prevention and Urban Wind Passages.
sector consist of measures to maintain existing commercial districts,
foster specialized industries and facilities, create new jobs, migrant and
resettlement measures for low-income families, and provide social
housing. In terms of Sustainability Sector, modern society demands eco-
friendly and high energy efficiency with the slogan of low carbon and
green growth, and resources and energy efficiency are essential items for
sustainable urban regeneration. This will serve as a basic factor for the
city to develop while continuing to put less burden on the environment
as the city grows in the future. Sub-elements are extracted from the pearl
rating system for Estidama, Abu Dhabi’s innovative green building
standards, and consist of the use of natural energy using solar/wind
power (RE-1, SM-3), energy efficiency-oriented design (IDP-R2, RE-R2),
waste reprocessing and waste reduction policies (PW-3, SM-R6, SM-4),
Fig. 6. Example of 7 Units Two-Way Comparison for Main Elements.
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Sustainable Cities and Society 76 (2022) 103496
heat island prevention and urban wind passages (IDP-R1, NS-R3, LS-R1)
(DMT, 2021).
4. Analysis for Derivation of Weights for Evaluation Elements
4.1. Expert Survey
The expert survey was conducted for urban design and planning
experts such as Dubai municipality officials (30-35 years of experience),
academia (25-30 years of experience), and industry experts (30-35 years
of experience). The survey was conducted in parallel with an e-mail
survey and an interview survey, and the survey period was from
February 4, 2020 to March 4, 2020, over 8 weeks, a total of 60 copies
were sent and 38 copies were collected. The composition of the ques­
tionnaire is largely composed of a section related to the AHP technique
and a section related to the personal information of the questionnaire.
The questionnaire was expressed as a 7 units of two-way importance
(very important – important - less important – Equal - less important –
important – very important) rather than directly writing a two-way
comparison matrix so that the characters to be put could be under­
stood more easily (Fig. 6).
The general details of experts who responded to the questionnaire
are as follows: The division of institutions is divided into academia such
as municipality officials, university professors, and engineering com­
panies. Respondents to the questionnaire were 15 municipality officials,
13 university professors, and 10 engineers. The gender of respondents
are 63.2% male and 36.8% female. As for the academic background of
the respondents, 76.3% of respondents had a graduate school or higher.
In terms of age, 31-40 years of age were the most common with 65.78%,
and 44.7% of respondents with a career period of 1-5 years, 5-10 years of
experience 34.2%, and about 21% of respondents with more than 10
years of experience (Table 3).
4.2. AHP Analysis for the Weight of Main Category Planning Elements
The results of the survey on the top factors are shown in Table 4
below. As a result, the weights were ranked in the order of 0.254 in the
urban environment sector, 0.235 in the economic sector, 0.194 in the
social/cultural sector, 0.194 in the transportation sector, and 0.164 in
sustainability sector. The consistency ratio was analyzed to be 0.01,
which means it was determined through the process of rational decision-
J. Awad and C. Jung Sustainable Cities and Society 76 (2022) 103496

Table 3 was found to be the greatest. In the case of industry, the weight for the
General Information about Expert Respondents. transportation sector (0.253) was very high compared to other occu­
Category Number of Respondents Percentage pations but the importance of the economic sector was low compared to
municipality and academia (Table 4). These results suggest that in the
Institute Dubai Municipality 15 3935
Academia 13 34.2 case of academia and municipality, the social/cultural and economic
Industry 10 26.3 sectors, which are non-physical parts, are as important as the physical
Gender Male 24 63.2 parts for sustainable urban regeneration. On the other hand, in the case
Female 14 36.8 of the industry, it seems that the importance of the physical part is
Education Master and Above 29 76.3
Bachelor 9 23.7
higher than that of the non-physical part. Lastly, in the case of the sus­
Age 25-30 8 21.1 tainability sector, the importance of all occupations was analyzed to be
31-40 25 65.8 low. This was analyzed that two questions of Urban Environment Sector
41-50 4 10.5 were overlapped with sustainability sector such as Green and Water-
61 & above 1 2.6
friendly Spaces and Prevention Measures for Contaminated Facilities.
Experience 1-5 years’ experience 17 44.7
5-10 years’ experience 13 34.2 In future research, the clarity for pair-comparison questions should be
10-15 years’ experience 4 10.5 secured.
15-20 years’ experience 2 5.3
20 years & more 2 5.3

making. In general, the higher the expertise of the respondent, the lower
the value. A score of 0.1 (10%) or lower indicates that the response is
reliable.
The urban environment sector (0.254) and economic sectors (0.235)
accounted for about 50% of the major category elements, and the weight
was higher than that of other elements. The weight of the social/cultural
sector was 0.194, and the transportation sector (0.164) and the sus­
tainability sector (0.153) were found to be relatively less significant. In
the case of municipality, the importance to the economic sector (0.268)
4.3. AHP Analysis for the Weight of Sub Category Planning Elements
Table 5 are the results of the survey analysis on the weights of lower
elements for evaluating urban regeneration projects. First, looking at the
results for the urban environment sector, the ranking of the weight was
0.252 for Green and Water-friendly Spaces, 0.225 for Consideration of
the Urban Landscape, 0.217 for Open Spaces for Urbanscape, and 0.153
for Efficient Land Use and Prevention Measures for Contaminated Fa­
cilities. By occupation category, it was analyzed that the importance of
Consideration of the Urban Landscape was high in municipality, the
importance of Green and Water-friendly Spaces was high in the

Table 4
The Weight of Major Category Planning Elements.
Category Municipality Academia Industry Total

Weight Rank Weight Rank Weight Rank Weight Rank

Urban Environment Sector 0.239 2 0.233 2 0.250 2 0.254 1

Transportation Sector 0.127 5 0.148 5 0.277 1 0.164 4
Social/Cultural Sector 0.231 3 0.253 1 0.104 5 0.194 3
Economic Sector 0.268 1 0.216 3 0.180 4 0.235 2
Sustainability Sector 0.134 4 0.150 4 0.189 3 0.153 5

Table 5
The Weight of Sub-Category Planning Elements.
Category Municipality Academia Industry Total

Weight Rank Weight Rank Weight Rank Weight Rank

Urban Environment Sector Consideration of the Urban Landscape 0.266 1 0.203 3 0.182 4 0.225 2
Open Spaces for Urbanscape 0.192 3 0.203 3 0.275 1 0.217 3
Green and Water-friendly Spaces 0.257 2 0.227 1 0.248 2 0.252 1
Efficient Land Use 0.149 4 0.219 2 0.105 5 0.153 4
Prevention Measures for Contaminated Facilities 0.136 5 0.147 5 0.189 3 0.153 4
Transportation Sector Public Transport-Oriented System 0.269 1 0.260 1 0.203 3 0.254 1
Pedestrian Road System 0.247 2 0.166 4 0.199 4 0.211 3
Establishment of a Transfer System 0.208 3 0.222 3 0.204 2 0.214 2
Wide-Area Transportation Network. 0.133 5 0.223 2 0.274 1 0.206 4
Bicycle Roads with Careem Bike 0.142 4 0.129 5 0.121 5 0.115 5
Social/Cultural Sector Restoration of Historical and Cultural Resources 0.189 3 0.266 1 0.248 1 0.233 1
Expansion of Medical and Welfare Facilities 0.181 4 0.172 4 0.210 3 0.186 4
Expansion of Public and Educational Facilities 0.177 5 0.178 3 0.223 2 0.192 3
Local Community Facilities 0.233 1 0.136 5 0.127 5 0.228 2
Various Housing Choices 0.220 2 0.248 2 0.194 4 0.160 5
Economic Sector Policies for Existing Commercial Districts 0.245 1 0.205 3 0.110 5 0.187 4
Foster Specialized Businesses and Facilities 0.147 5 0.187 4 0.171 4 0.167 5
Create New Jobs 0.207 2 0.224 1 0.184 3 0.197 2
Policies for Low-Income Families 0.194 4 0.223 2 0.278 1 0.257 1
Provision of Social Housing. 0.206 3 0.161 5 0.258 2 0.192 3
Sustainability Sector Active Use of Solar/Wind Power 0.143 5 0.134 5 0.117 5 0.133 5
Energy Efficiency-Oriented Design 0.303 1 0.318 1 0.257 2 0.300 1
Waste Reprocessing and Reduction Policies 0.180 3 0.192 2 0.282 1 0.205 2
Life Cycle of the Building 0.206 2 0.184 3 0.137 4 0.176 4
Heat Island Prevention & Urban Wind Passages. 0.167 4 0.172 4 0.226 3 0.185 3

8
J. Awad and C. Jung
academia, and the importance of Open Spaces for Urbanscape was high
in industry. For Efficient Land Use, municipality and industry showed
low importance, while academics showed high importance. It was found
that the most important factors in the urban environment sector are
securing parks as Green and Water-friendly Spaces where citizens can
relax and securing Consideration of the Urban Landscape and Open
Spaces for Urbanscape. In addition, it was analyzed that Efficient Land
Use, which is considered an important planning factor in previous
studies, is less important than other factors in this study.
In the transportation sector, the ranking of lower elements weights
was analyzed as Public Transport-Oriented System 0.254, Public
Transport-Oriented System 0.214, Pedestrian Road System 0.211,
Connection of a Wide-Area Transportation Network 0.206, and Bicycle
Roads with Careem Bike 0.115. By occupation category, it was analyzed
that municipality and academia regarded the Public Transport-Oriented
System as the most important lower element. In the industry, the
Connection of a Wide-Area Transportation Network was considered the
most important element, whereas municipality and academia had low
importance. On the other hand, it was analyzed that the Pedestrian Road
System was recognized as important in municipality, while it was not
important in academia and industry. In summary, it was analyzed that
Public Transport-Oriented System is the most important factor in the
transportation sector, and in the case of Bicycle Roads with Careem Bike,
it was found that the importance was the least important. For other
factors, it was analyzed that the value of importance did not show much
difference.
In the social/cultural sector, the ranking of lower elements’ weights
was Restoration and Utilization of Historical and Cultural Resources
0.233, Local Community Facilities 0.228, Expansion of Public and
Educational Facilities 0.192, Expansion of Medical and Welfare Facil­
ities 0.186, and Opportunities for Various Housing Choices 0.160. By
occupation category, local community facilities were the most impor­
tant factors in municipality, and Restoration and Utilization of Historical
and Cultural Resources were the most important factors in academia and
industry. In the case of local community facilities, the ranking was
highest in municipality, while the importance was lowest in academia
and industry since municipality consider an administrative functions
such as customer happiness centers in urban regeneration project. On
the other hand, Opportunities for Various Housing Choices was
considered an important element in municipality and academia, but it
was found to be less important in the industry. Taken together, Resto­
ration and Utilization of Historical and Cultural Resources are the most
important elements in the social/cultural sector, and Opportunities for
Various Housing Choices is the least important element (Fig. 7 and
Fig. 8)
The weight ranking of lower elements for the economic sector was
analyzed in the order of Migrant and Resettlement Policies for Low-
Income Families 0.257, Create New Jobs 0.197, Provision of Social
Housing 0.192, Policies for Existing Commercial Districts 0.187, and
Energy Efficiency-Oriented Design
Policies for Low-Income Families
Restoration of Historical and Cultural Resources
Public Transport- Oriented System
Green and water- Friendly spaces
0 0.05
Fig. 7. Top 5 Influencing Elements as per Combined Judgement.
9
Sustainable Cities and Society 76 (2022) 103496
Foster Specialized Businesses and Facilities 0.167. In the case of the
economic sector, it was analyzed that the difference in importance was
large according to occupation. In the case of municipality, policies for
Existing Commercial Districts is the most important, Create New Jobs for
academia, and Migrant and Resettlement Policies for Low-Income
Families for industry. Taken together, the most important factors in
the economy were Migrant and Resettlement Policies for Low-Income
Families, and the remaining factors were similar in importance except
for Migrant and Resettlement Policies for Low-Income Families. The
weighted ranking of the lower elements for sustainability is Energy
Efficiency-Oriented Design 0.300, Waste Reprocessing and Waste
Reduction Policies 0.205, Heat Island Prevention and Urban Wind Pas­
sages 0.185, Construction considering the Life Cycle of the Building
0.176, and Active Use of Natural Energy using Solar/Wind Power 0.133.
By occupation category, it was found that municipality and academia
consider Energy Efficiency-Oriented Design as the most important fac­
tors in the industry, and Waste Reprocessing and Waste Reduction
Policies. Contrary to expectations, Active Use of Natural Energy using
Solar/Wind Power was analyzed to have the lowest importance in all
occupations (Fig. 9).
5. Results and Discussion
In summarizing the analysis results, the urban environment and
economic sectors were found to be important for sustainable urban
regeneration among the top factors (Table 6). In the case of the Social/
Cultural Sector, the importance was high even though it did not reach
the level of Urban Environment Sector and the Economic Sector. In the
case of Transportation Sector and Sustainability Sector, the importance
was low. It was analyzed that the importance of the lower element is
largely reflected in the importance of the upper element. Looking at the
elements having the top 5 importance among the total 25 lower ele­
ments, it was analyzed that the lower elements of the Urban Environ­
ment Sector and the Economic Sector occupied all of the top 5 elements.
In the Urban Environment Sector, Green and Water-friendly Spaces,
Consideration of the Urban Landscape, and Open Spaces for Urbanscape
were analyzed as the 1st, 3rd and 4th places respectively. As for the
elements of the economic sector, Provision of Social Housing ranked 2nd
and Create New Jobs ranked 5th. In the top 10 factors, Restoration of
Historical and Cultural Resources, and Local Community Facilities in the
Social/Cultural Sector were analyzed as the top 10 factors. As for the
transportation sector, only the Public Transport-Oriented System was
found to be the 11th important factor as the factor that was close to the
top 10 factors. In the case of the rest of the factors, it was found that the
importance was low. In the case of the Sustainability Sector, all factors
except for Energy Efficiency-Oriented Design showed very low impor­
tance in the overall weight.
Interpreting the results of this analysis means that for sustainable
urban regeneration, open spaces for comfortable living and parks such as
0.3
0.257
0.233
0.254
0.252
0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35
Element Weight
J. Awad and C. Jung Sustainable Cities and Society 76 (2022) 103496

Industry
Waste Reprocessing and Reduction Policies 0.282
Policies for Low-Income Families 0.278
Wide-Area Transportation Network 0.274
Open Spaces for Urbanscape 0.275

Academia
Energy Efficiency-Oriented Design 0.318
Restoration of Historical and Cultural Resources 0.266
Public Transport-Oriented System 0.26

Municipality
Energy Efficiency-Oriented Design 0.303
Public Transport-Oriented System 0.269
Consideration of the Urban Landscape 0.266

0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35

Element Weight
Fig. 8. Top 10 Influencing Elements as per Category.

Fig. 9. The Radar Chart for the Weight of Lower Elements.

10
J. Awad and C. Jung Sustainable Cities and Society 76 (2022) 103496

Table 6 employed multicriteria methods. In this survey method, the processes of

The Weight of Urban Regeneration Planning Elements. rating alternatives and aggregating to find the most relevant alternatives
Upper Elements Lower Elements Weight Rank Weight Rank are integrated for decision-making. It is employed for ranking a set of
alternatives or for the selection of the best in a set of alternatives. This
Urban Consideration of 0.224 2 0.056 3
Environment the Urban study is the first phase study to verify the satisfaction level of the resi­
Sector (0.253) Landscape dents in the Deira Enrichment Project and vicinity to improve the Dubai
Open Spaces for 0.216 3 0.054 4 Municipality’s policy for Sustainable Urban Regeneration. After
Urbanscape extracting planning elements for sustainable urban regeneration via
Green and Water- 0.251 1 0.064 1
friendly Spaces
expert brainstorming from the objective expert group via AHP process,
Efficient Land Use 0.152 4 0.038 12 the next phase study is to use the same AHP method to survey Deira
Prevention Measures 0.152 4 0.038 12 Enrichment Project and vicinity’s residents’ satisfaction and to actively
for Contaminated reflect it in the policy of Dubai Municipality’s Sustainable Urban
Facilities
Regeneration in the future.
Transportation Public Transport- 0.253 1 0.042 11
Sector (0.163) Oriented System This is the reason why this study extracts the sustainable urban
Pedestrian Road 0.210 3 0.034 17 regeneration planning elements for Dubai and evaluated the importance
System of the derived elements. This can be used as a basic data for sustainable
Establishment of a 0.213 2 0.034 17 urban regeneration in Dubai. Now Dubai is having a big urban regen­
Transfer System
Wide-Area 0.205 4 0.033 19
eration project in Deira (Deira Enrichment project) and Al Karama and
Transportation Al Satwa need sustainable urban regeneration in near future. In addi­
Network. tion, as a future study, it is possible to evaluate ongoing sustainable
Bicycle Roads with 0.114 5 0.019 25 urban regeneration projects after assigning each evaluation score to the
Careem Bike
planning elements.
Social/Cultural Restoration of 0.232 1 0.044 7
Sector (0.195) Historical and This study relies mainly on the experts’ judgements; therefore, the
Cultural Resources achieved results are limited to and recognized as subjective. Further­
Expansion of Medical 0.186 4 0.036 16 more, the study presupposes that the experts’ responses were genuine
and Welfare Facilities and exclusively based on their knowledge and expertise.
Expansion of Public 0.191 3 0.037 15
and Educational
Facilities 6. Conclusion
Local Community 0.227 2 0.044 9
Facilities This study aims to derive the sustainable urban regeneration plan­
Various Housing 0.161 5 0.030 20
ning elements and evaluate their importance. In order to select the
Choices
Economic Sector Policies for Existing 0.186 4 0.044 9 planning elements prior to the questionnaire, a brainstorming group
(0.234) Commercial composed of three experts was created to derive the planning elements.
Districts After that, an expert survey was conducted based on the derived factors,
Foster Specialized 0.166 5 0.038 12 and the importance of the planning factors was evaluated. The elements
Businesses and
of sustainable urban regeneration planning have 5 upper elements
Facilities
Create New Jobs 0.196 2 0.045 5 (Urban Environment Sector, Transportation sector, Social/Cultural
Policies for Low- 0.256 1 0.059 2 Sector, Economic Sector, and Sustainability Sector). As for the lower
Income Families elements, 5 planning elements were selected for each upper element.
Provision of Social 0.192 3 0.044 7
As a result of the analysis, the Urban Environment Sector was
Housing.
Sustainability Active Use of Solar/ 0.132 5 0.020 24
analyzed to be the most important factor in the upper level. This means
Sector Wind Power that for sustainable urban regeneration, improvement of current un­
Energy Efficiency- 0.299 1 0.046 5 derdeveloped physical environment is top priority. This was the most
Oriented Design recognized sector in urban regeneration in the past. However, the
Waste Reprocessing 0.204 2 0.030 20
analysis results show that it is not only about transportation infra­
and Reduction
Policies structure, but more inclusive urban infrastructures such as urban land­
Life Cycle of the 0.176 4 0.026 23 scape, open space, and park and waterfront. It was found as high as
Building physical improvement of infrastructures. The results of this study show
Heat Island 0.185 3 0.027 22
that the importance of the Economic Sector are as high as physical
Prevention & Urban
Wind Passages.
improvement of infrastructures. In particular, in the case of the Eco­
nomic Sector such as new job creation and policies for low-income
families show very high importance. Moreover, experts in Dubai think
green spaces and water-friendly spaces are needed instead of desolate Social/Cultural Sector is important and the restoration of historical and
building forests. In addition, it means that urban regeneration projects cultural resources is regarded as one of the option for sustainable urban
are necessary for sustainable urban development, such as existing resi­ regeneration in Dubai. These top priority planning elements found in
dents and resettlement measures, provision of rental housing for low- this study should be dealt with a significant weight in future urban
income families, protection of existing commercial districts, and crea­ regeneration projects in Dubai.
tion of new jobs for urban sustainability. In addition, the restoration and
utilization of historical/cultural resources is a driving force that enables Declaration of Competing Interest
the city to develop with its own characteristics through a unique iden­
tity, unlike the unified urban development and regeneration of the past. The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
It can be said that it appeared as an important factor in the point. The interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
peculiar thing is that the importance of the transportation sector and the work reported in this paper.
resource and energy efficiency sectors related to green growth, which
are recently being talked about, are relatively low.
The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is one of the most widely

11
J. Awad and C. Jung
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of
Fujian Province (No. 2020J01858).see pts remarks.
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