1.2 An understanding of WHO’s a healthy city

WHO defines a healthy city as an active one; this European healthy city program was established in 1986, which provided a base for setting out new principles for the city’s healthy lifestyle (Edwards and Tsouros, 2008).

A healthy city is a city that prioritizes its people by creating an active lifestyle (pedestrian friendly). It balances a healthy relationship between the people and the city by creating a healthy lifestyle keeping in mind the people with unique abilities (Edwards and Tsouros, 2008). It further tries to reduce health issues faced by the people by creating innovative strategies and policies and learning from cities that have already successfully created healthy cities. Finally, the city worries about its future as it makes a more sustainable and healthy infrastructure for its people (Edwards and Tsouros, 2008)

1.3 Health analysis of Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi Emirate has one of the highest rates of road fatalities in the world during the year 2007 (AbuDhabi urbanstreet designmanual,2009) Between2008and2010,about1,260traffic-related deaths in AbuDhabi, of which15%werepedestrians (Abu Dhabi urban street design manual, 2009) Diabetes and obesity are connected to cardiovascular disease which is Abu Dhabi's top cause of mortality (Abu Dhabi urban street design manual, 2009)

Increased public transportation usage, walking, and cycling might alleviate these health-related difficulties (Abu Dhabi urban street design manual, 2009). Increased levels of walking and cycling result in less automobile use, which reduces carbon emissions and air pollution (Abu Dhabi urban street design manual, 2009). Improving the urban environment to promote more walkable communities helps long-term behavior change, reducing the incidence of major noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer (Abu Dhabi urban street design manual, 2009).

Very less physical activity

• One of the highest road fatalities

• High rate of cardiovascular diseases

• High rate of diabetes, obesity, and cancer.

1.4 Planning history of Abu Dhabi

The first observation when it comes to the city of Abu Dhabi is that it sharply contrasts with its neighbouring city, Dubai. Abu Dhabi has been designed by prioritizing pedestrians over vehicles. The government of Abu Dhabi has a different set of goals compared to the other cities in UAE. As Alamira Reem puts it, Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates since 1971, ‘has been quietly devising its own plans ... to manifest its role and stature as a capital city’ (Hashim and Reem, 2022). The City of Abu Dhabi is known as the modern city built twice (Hashim and Reem, 2022). The reason being the two different phases of the town where it first started as a city of fishermen and later progressed very quickly when oil was discovered. As of today, Abu Dhabi is the largest city in the UAE.

1.4.1 Stages of Abu Dhabi and its contributions

Abu Dhabi has been divided into two stages. We will discuss a few critical interventions that benefit a healthy city during the planning stages. This can also act as a model for the other cities to follow during their planning stages.

1.4.1.1 The pre-oil era of Abu Dhabi (the Arab Islamic city)

The Harris plan was one of the first urban plans developed for Abu Dhabi in its early stages. There were two important features of this plan related to a healthy city. The city was designed with the concept of boundaries where the extension was limited, which would help people get easy access and improve the social aspect of the town (Hashim and Reem, 2015). The second one was the planting of trees where the city was recommended to plant as many palm trees along the principal axes of the town in the central spaces (plazas) and palaces (Hashim and Reem, 2015).

1.4.1.2 Discovery of oil

The city’s entire economy changed after the oil was discovered When the rule of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan started, one of the best visionaries led the city towards a sustainable future (Hashim and Reem, 2015); during this phase, the city went through three stages: the modernist city, the new urbanist city, and the sustainability city (Hashim and Reem, 2015). In this transition, there were few urban planning strategies that promoted the healthy nature of the city.

• Arabicon plan – designed multiuse superblocks along with inner landscaped courtyards (Hashim and Reem, 2015)

• Maklouf’s plan – this plan designed housing focused more on social interaction and social cohesion among the inhabitants (Hashim and Reem, 2015).

• Takashi’s plan – he focused more on creating green routes and also designed the urban wind acceleration system, which used the tall building to create a wind tunnel effect that led to the acceleration of wind inside the streets and created shading for the pedestrians (Hashim and Reem, 2015).