Impact of urban growth on the historical area of umm al Quwain, UAE

The rapid urban growth in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is phenomenal; the orientation of that urban development focuses on the modernization of towns and cities. This development was done to the detriment of historical areas, leading to their socio-cultural metamorphosis. The historic area of Umm Al Quwain is a case study, illustrating the challenges of its future. Our first research objective is to preserve the essential characteristics of the historical area, while injecting the desired new functional elements in a manner compatible with the traditional city structure. The second objective is to improve living standards in the historical area, especially with regard to infrastructure, sanitation and social facilities, providing a level of comfort equivalent to that of modern cities, but without destroying the traditional character of the area. This paper is structured in three main parts: The first one is more descriptive than analytic, and deals with the chronological development of the city. The second part, based on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) approach and the last on analyses of similar cases in the region, presenting the analysis of one zone of the historical area, with different suggestions of scenarios for the revitalization of the zone taken as a pilot project.