Mapping socio-physical legacies of Emirati villas: contingency and spatial continuity or rift

Abstract

UAE urban housing and planning history discourses commonly assume a sharp division between the pre-oil (before the 1950s) and the post-oil (since the 1960s) eras. It is a misleading assumption that flattens historical legacies and exempts pre-oil tribal and maritime built landscape from having a bearing on the emergence of more recent ‘iconic’ villas for the Emiratis/UAE citizens. Besides, status quo urban narratives are further dismissive of non-iconic citizen centric modern housing prototypes of the late 1960s. In this context, our approach is to illustrate the intertwined evolution of contingent driven dwelling features, changes as well as continuities across the pre-oil and post-oil eras. By interconnecting history with user-led spatial changes in current Emirati houses, we argue that, while sustainability has become more of a catchphrase and the ‘iconic' villa façade—the marketing brand, the concept, acceptance, and spatial realization are indeed set by historical overlays of local and transnational experimentation, arbitration, and adaptation. Thus, the current design and policy led national housing prototypes would be corrective, regenerative and successful if assembled through an iterative design process that accommodates emerging sustainable frameworks as well as user-driven spatial interventions. This approach sustains the socio-physical legacies of the Emirati houses and their cultural legitimacy in the built-environment.

Domesticity as Nation Building in the United Arab Emirates

“…The current housing paradigm in the UAE tends to overlook continuities with the pre-oil era and its built-scapes (Rashid et al, 2022), assuming a sharp division between pre-and post-oil housing histories. This tends to suggest that new developments seemingly rose from the sand in the 1970s and overlooks the role of wealth sharing through housing in creating a cohesive national identity, the influence of international practices in the Emirati villa design, or construction methods that were all formative to housing within the region.…”

“…The lack of more diverse studies and systematic documentation of contemporary housing and its histories has facilitated an "invented" understanding of the past (Anderson, 1983;Bourdieu, 1993;Hobsbawm & Ranger, 1983;Rashid et al, 2022)-"invented" in the sense that international impact is not often given enough recognition beyond that of stating Sheikh Zayed's curiosity in the 1980s, even though nation-building programmes were developed by foreign consulates, as in the case with the UAE. Generally, the heritage narrative skips housing, jumping from Bedouin living to today's global setting (Hawker, 2002).…”

“…In the UAE, where housing is widely gifted to the native population, social status is often expressed through the symbolic materiality found in dramatic villa facades, entrance hallways, and luxurious majlis-all designed for the gaze of visitors. As evident from a historical study of housing (Alawadi, 2018;El-Aswad, 1996;Elsheshtawy, 2019;Rashid et al, 2022), hospitality is a critical concept that can be considered an important form of intangible heritage and part of the nation-building story (Martín, 2021). Hospitality is key to Emirati culture, influencing the management of people and the production of interior space, which is also evident in how this has evolved over time.…”

“…Tribal affiliation was strong in the 1970s and the new UAE had limited appeal to the deeply rooted belonging of the tribes. Sabban (2018) called this a twin identity and Rashid et al (2022) go further to describe this identity as being socially anchored in tribal traditions, combined with ultra-modern construction and layout, which led to the UAE nation-building focusing on pure Arabness and Bedouin heritage. The wealth deriving from oil was invested into large-scale infrastructure and housing projects that visibly represented and spatialised a new national unity.…”

“…Currently, there is no systematic documentation of the contemporary villa typology (Rashid et al, 2022), so this article explores the richness of these domestic histories in the UAE using a multi-disciplinary approach. It asks:…”