DMT advances urban wellbeing in Abu Dhabi through Phase 2 of Liveability Strategy

The Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT) has launched Phase 2 of the emirate’s Liveability Strategy. The announcement marks a major evolution from the foundational framework, following the successful achievement of Phase 1 targets in elevating neighbourhood integration, infrastructure readiness, and community facility provision across Abu Dhabi.

Phase 2 outlines a comprehensive five-year strategic roadmap that sets higher, more ambitious benchmarks for urban wellbeing. The upgraded strategy shifts the core focus from merely ensuring the physical availability of public amenities to measuring and guaranteeing their operational quality, efficiency, and social impact, directly enhancing the daily lives of citizens, residents, and visitors.

While Phase 1 laid the groundwork by delivering essential public facilities and infrastructure assets across all urban sectors, Phase 2 advances the framework to a deeper level of operational precision. Under the new standards, a facility’s success is no longer judged solely by its physical completion, but by its operational excellence and the active implementation of community programmes and social initiatives hosted within it.

The launch of Phase 2 builds upon a proven track record delivered by the Liveability Strategy during its foundational phase. The strategy successfully completed over 60 major projects valued at more than AED12 billion, executed as part of a broader approved programme worth AED42 billion.

In parallel with these physical deliverables, Abu Dhabi’s District Completion Index surged from 67 per cent to 84 per cent in just two years. These record figures demonstrate the maturity of the emirate’s planning model, marking its transition from assessing public requirements to directly targeting capital investments and government funding towards high-priority community needs.

To support predictive, data-driven planning, Phase 2 deploys a unified digital platform powered by smart analytics to monitor the condition and operational quality of infrastructure assets and public amenities. This platform seamlessly integrates real-time customer and resident satisfaction survey results from across Abu Dhabi with field completion data.

This intelligent integration allows urban planners to pinpoint localised district needs with extreme precision, guiding decisions regarding Capital Expenditure (CapEx) and directing government investments toward projects that yield the highest quality-of-life returns.

Under the Phase 2 framework, clear, measurable five-year strategic targets have been established for every district in the emirate. Furthermore, the strategy expands its umbrella to fully integrate current and future developer master developments, guaranteeing uniform quality-of-life standards across both public municipal projects and private sector developments.

Acting as a key execution partner, the Urban Planning and Permits Centre (UPPC) at the Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT) is driving public-private partnership (PPP) through direct collaboration with investors and developers.

UPPC converts community requirements into attractive investment models across key social infrastructure — including parks, sports complexes, recreational clubs, and integrated community centres. These partnerships fulfil residents’ daily needs while simultaneously revitalising local commercial ecosystems and fuelling economic growth.

The Liveability Strategy implements a model where all local government entities in Abu Dhabi operate as part of a single unified framework. This cross-sector collaboration goes beyond monitoring physical infrastructure to evaluating the daily quality of life and lived experience of Abu Dhabi’s residents against international benchmarks.

His Excellency Mohamed Ali Al Shorafa, Chairman of the Department of Municipalities and Transport, said: “The launch of Phase 2 of the Liveability Strategy, under the directives of the Executive Council, reinforces Abu Dhabi’s standing as a premier global destination of choice to live, work, and invest.

The exceptional results achieved to date demonstrate Abu Dhabi’s high capacity to absorb its rapid urban growth within an integrated planning framework that aligns development with quality-of-life priorities and infrastructure readiness.

“In Phase 1, we successfully built a rock-solid foundation of infrastructure and public amenities. Today, we enter a more innovative era focused on facility quality, active utilisation, and long-term sustainability.

Powered by smart data and strong partnerships with investors and government entities, we continue to put wellbeing at the heart of Abu Dhabi’s urban development.” Cross-functional government teams, master developers, and private investors have initiated the implementation phase of the Phase 2 metrics to achieve the emirate’s five-year strategic liveability targets and fulfil community aspirations.