Engineered canals and waterfront developments as a means to revitalize aging riverfront and coastal areas, dominated until the mid-thirties by industrial buildings and warehouses, have been at the forefront of many American and European cities. Urban revitalization is accomplished after prolonged public participation and has succeeded to transform abandoned areas to healthy public spaces, renovating old warehouses and industrial buildings to apartments with water views, and keeping alive the historical memory of a city. In contrast, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), most of these waterfront developments, such as Al-Qana, a recent project in Abu Dhabi promote forms of modern, spectacular architecture that project a sense of departure from tradition, local culture and architecture. This is also visible in the area around the Dubai canal, which has opted for a modern development on its banks, replacing parts of an existing open park. A project that diverges from such an approach is the two-decades old waterfront project in the city of Sharjah, UAE. Al-Qasba in Sharjah aimed for a more balanced approach, intertwining new architectural forms with hybridized Islamic ornaments. The current article analyzes these three UAE waterfront development projects, focusing on the one in Abu Dhabi. In order to assess the water quality in these engineered canals on the long term we created simulation waterflow models using 2D Finite Element Surface Water Modelling System (FESWMS). Our hydrodynamic modeling results indicate that water velocities in some canals was better than others. Furthermore, on the long-term Al-Qana may require mechanical means in order to maintain healthy waterflow conditions.

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阿联酋的海滨开发和工程运河

运河工程和滨水区开发是振兴老化的河滨和沿海地区的一种手段，直到三十年代中期，这些地区一直以工业建筑和仓库为主，一直是许多美国和欧洲城市的前沿。城市复兴是经过长期公众参与而完成的，成功地将废弃地区改造为健康的公共空间，将旧仓库和工业建筑改造为水景公寓，保留了城市的历史记忆。相比之下，在阿拉伯联合酋长国 (UAE)，大多数滨水开发项目（例如阿布扎比最近的 Al-Qana 项目）提倡现代、壮观的建筑形式，体现出一种背离传统、当地文化和建筑的感觉。这在迪拜运河周边地区也很明显，该地区选择在其河岸上进行现代化开发，取代现有开放公园的一部分。与这种方法不同的一个项目是阿联酋沙迦市已有二十年历史的海滨项目。沙迦的 Al-Qasba 旨在采取更加平衡的方法，将新的建筑形式与混合的伊斯兰装饰品交织在一起。本文分析了这三个阿联酋海滨开发项目，重点关注阿布扎比的一个。为了长期评估这些工程运河的水质，我们使用二维有限元地表水建模系统 (FESWMS) 创建了模拟水流模型。我们的水动力模型结果表明，某些运河的水流速度比其他运河更好。此外，从长远来看，Al-Qana 可能需要机械手段来维持健康的水流条件。