Dubai to slash journey times with 20-minute city policy

13 December 2022
Reducing time spent in traffic is a key goal of the second phase of the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan

Dubai plans to improve the quality of life of its residents by cutting the majority of journey times with its newly approved 20-Minute City Policy.

The aim of the policy is for residents to have 80 per cent of their daily requirements within a 20-minute journey time, on foot or by bicycle. This goal will be achieved by developing integrated service centres with all the necessary facilities and increasing the population density around mass transit stations.

Dubai's 90-kilometre-long metro network already has 53 mass transit stations, and more are planned. MEED reported in October that the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) is expected to issue tender documents for extensions to the Dubai Metro network in the second quarter of 2023. The project, which has been referred to as the blue line, involves delivering new metro lines that will extend the existing red and green lines. 

There are also plans to build railway stations for passenger and high-speed services on the federal Etihad Rail network that will connect to neighbouring emirates.   

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, approved the 20-Minute City Policy as part of the second phase of the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan on 12 December.

The approved second phase of the master plan consists of several projects and initiatives, including the Enhancing Urban Centres Strategy, Dubai Real Estate Strategy, Urban Farming Plan, Preserving Urban Heritage Plan, Developing the 20-Minute City Policy, and the Pedestrian Network Master Plan.

Sheikh Mohammed also reviewed the progress of 17 projects and initiatives that were part of the initial phase of the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan.

Planning for growth

The Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan was launched in March 2021. The launch of the plan referenced studies that said the population of the emirate is expected to be 5.8 million by 2040, up from 3.3 million in 2020, while the daytime population is set to increase from 4.5 million in 2020 to 7.8 million in 2040. 

MEED reported in 2019 that Dubai Municipality had awarded US-based consultancy Jacobs the contract to prepare a new urban master plan for the years up to 2040.

The master plan is focused on five centres. They are the historic urban centres of Deira and Bur Dubai; the business and financial centre of Downtown and Business Bay; the tourism and leisure centres of Dubai Marina and Jumeirah Beach Residences; the Expo 2020 district, which will be focused on exhibitions, tourism and logistics; and Dubai Silicon Oasis, for science, technology and the knowledge economy.

The master plan is the seventh such plan developed for the emirate since 1960. Between 1960 and 2020, the population of Dubai increased by 80 times, from 40,000 in 1960 to 3.3 million by the end of 2020, and grew in cultural diversity to include people from more than 200 nationalities.

The urban and built area of the emirate increased 170-fold, from 3.2 square kilometres in the same period.

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