Abu Dhabi’s “SMART MAJLIS”: An Interactive Technology in Participatory Planning (?)

Abu Dhabi’s Urban Planning Council (UPC) was established in 2007 to be the ‘expert authority’ of planning in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Its award-winning Spatial Data Department (SDD) is valued as second-in-command, working hand-in-hand with all the Council’s planning departments. As part of their responsibility, the SDD team captures the work of the various planning departments in an internal GIS web portal called GeoPlanner. This portal is a virtual database that is maintained to track and update plans, policies and regulations made and approved by the UPC. In 2011, they launched an updated version of the GeoPlanner by incorporating three-dimensional models of the plans. The video demonstrates an example of the 3D models capturing downtown Abu Dhabi in its current and future state while incorporating UPC’s most recent standards and regulations. The team continues to innovate by developing GIS initiatives such as the GeoMap app that makes the database including the 3D models available on mobile devices such as iPads — although, it is only shared and viewed internally. Having said that, a more recent initiative was briefly mentioned in the video called ‘Smart Majlis’. It was promoted as a platform that creates a communication link between the UPC and the general public. The specifics of the platform were not shared nor it is available anywhere on-line. However, judging from the name, ‘Smart Majlis’, which is Arabic for a “social gathering place”, opens up many questions. Will it be equivalent to a virtual town hall? Will the public finally have access to the ‘extraordinary’ database? Most importantly, will it be a good first step or a failed leap towards introducing participatory planning in a non-democratic context?