Yildirim & El-Masri, “Master Planning for Conservation in Al Ain Oasis”, 46th ISOCARP Congress 2010 1 Master Planning for Heritage Conservation in Al Ain Oasis, UAE Ege Yildirim Dr. Sami El-Masri Introduction As a high-income country located in the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates presents an unusual and fascinating case of extreme rapid development, bearing with it many implications on the cultural and natural environment. As the high-rise urban centers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai have been springing up ambitiously, the challenge of sustainable development is exacerbated by the high demand and supply for energy-consuming measures to alleviate the region’s harsh climate, the availability of these measures due to the country’s extreme wealth, and the infancy of an urban tradition that could question and moderate this pattern of development. Nevertheless, many initiatives are being launched to promote more sustainable alternatives that are based both on new, cutting-edge technologies, and on the age-old traditions reflected in the surviving historic environment. In Abu Dhabi, the largest of the emirates, initiatives of the latter kind are centered around the efforts of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), aimed at the conservation of the physical environment and the promotion of local sustainable architecture. This paper focuses on the ADACH efforts for master planning of oases in the city of Al Ain, in particular the Al Ain Oasis Cultural Quarter Master Plan. This ongoing effort involves the development of a cultural quarter in the heart of Al Ain that connects the historic oasis with the modern fabric of the city, and facilitates its preservation as a local environmental resource. The challenges involved faced in both the planning and implementation of this project have already begun to provide valuable insights and lessons for spatial planning, governance and sustainable urban development in this part of the world. ADACH and Preserving Al Ain’s Tangible Heritage Abu Dhabi Emirate Cultural Heritage Management Strategy A confederation of semi-nomadic tribes surviving on a basic subsistence economy for much of its history until unification in 1971, the United Arab Emirates has been transformed through its new-found oil wealth into the booming economy and futuristic landscape that the world knows today. The distinction of the post-Oil UAE from the pre-Oil period is clearly marked by the country’s social and physical developments, but this neither precludes the fascinating pre-Oil heritage of the region, nor the continuum and layers of history left in this transition. In fact, efforts of the young country for the study and recognition of its history started early on, most notably in Abu Dhabi Emirate, with agencies such as the Center of Documentation and Research, the Department of Antiquities and the Ain Economic Development and Tourism Promotion Authority (AAEDTPA). In 2003, these efforts took on a new, more comprehensive form, as the AAEDTPA asked for the support of UNESCO for the preparation of a plan and vision that would help preserve and promote the cultural heritage of the city of Al Ain and its surrounding area. The resulting Abu Dhabi Cultural Heritage Management Strategy, taking Al Ain as its core but covering the wider emirate, promoted an integrated approach to the management of the cultural heritage of Abu Dhabi, and recommended the establishment of a new body, the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) to implement this vision. The founding Law no. 28 of 2005, charges ADACH with a broad mandate forto this end, and places it among several new Abu Dhabi government agencies that are expected to guide Abu Dhabi’s ambitious future development.