Charter of Dubai
A Manifesto of Critical
Urban Transformation

The man-made peninsular Palm Jumeirah on the coast of Dubai is a superlative project and an exemplary model for the Gated Communities and Resorts that have developed worldwide in property bubbles. The development may be spectacular, but cannot conceal the fact that the former marketing success story is faced with serious problems. How can an isolated anti-urban exclave be opened up and integrated? Can issues concerning networking, the public sphere and affordable housing, as well as climate change adaptation, biodiversity and the supply of energy be resolved through targeted tactical interventions?

The Charter of Dubai is a manifesto of critical urban transformation. It subversively encourages the conversion of isolated quarters into a socially and ecologically open urban space. 
The detailed catalog of the individual measures, richly illustrated with clear sketches and references, make the Charter a handbook for urban transformation that takes social and ecological aspects into account.

CONTENTS

• FOREWORD
Dismantling Refuge: Architectural Propositions for Unbound Spaces
by Philipp Misselwitz
• INTRODUCTION

• FAR RANGE - CLOSE RANGE
Re:Form - From spectacular image to urban figure
• FLOWS AND CYCLES
Re:Cover - From fortification to dynamic environments of wind and water
Re:Source I - From exhaustive fossil fuel uptake to a solar urban morphology
Re:Source II - From representational to productive landscapes
• NETWORKS
Re:Block - From dead ends to a permeable grid 
Re:Lock - From controlling barriers to sites of concentrated exchange
• SOCIAL EVERYDAY
Re:Divide - From exclusion to cultural diversification
Re:Gain - From property speculation to social appropriation
• IN VICINITY
Re:Plot - From grand estates to affordable dwelling aggregates
Re:Use - From useless yards to inhabitable courtyards
Re:Populate - From stand-alone villas to urban tissue

• EX-PALM | Application
• LAST PAGE | Cool:Pools
• REFERENCES

• APPENDIX
The Palm Dubai, by Kees Christiaanse
Interview with HHCP: Palm Jumeirah - City as Product
Letter to Nakheel

• CREDITS

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Sabine Müller,a founding partner of SMAQ – Architecture Urbanism Research, has received several international awards including the Architectural Review Award for Emerging Architects and the Holcim Award for Sustainable Construction both in 2008. She taught at the Karlsruhe State School for Design (2002), from 2004-2005 at the Delft University of Technology and was Assistant Professor at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Chair of Urban Design from 2006-2011. In 2013 she was Visiting Critic at Cornell University.
Andreas Quednau, a founding partner of SMAQ – architecture urbanism research, has received several international awards including the Architectural Review Award for Emerging Architects and the Holcim Award for Sustainable Construction both in 2008.  He taught at the Berlin University of Technology from 2005-2009 and was in 2009 appointed Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the Stuttgart State Academy for Art and Design, School of Architecture.
SMAQ - Architecture Urbanism Research is an internationally orientated studio for architecture, urbanism and research. Looking at the city as inclusive to infrastructural and landscape contexts and their everyday usages, SMAQ’s approach to design is based on a concept of continuity in urbanism, landscape, architecture and interior. It was established by Sabine Müller and Andreas Quednau in 2001 first in Rotterdam (2001-2005), then in 2005 in Berlin and in 2009 in Stuttgart.