Dubai Road Naming Committee promotes community participation by launching ‘Roads Naming Suggestions platform’
– The platform enables the public to suggest names for roads that reflect national identity and heritage, further narrating stories of the past
– It will further reinforce the revival of heritage meanings and designations, highlighting Dubai’s national identity and reflecting its history, legacy, and values
Al-Hajri:
- “The platform showcases our efforts in reviving national meanings and nomenclature of Dubai, further serving as a testament to its history, values, cultural, civilizational, and social wealth and consistent with its future growth.”
- “The platform serves as a digital system that enables the public to participate in proposing names for roads and streets across Dubai that reflect our national identity and tell stories of our past.”
Dubai Road Naming Committee, the entity that designates names for roads and streets in Dubai, launched the platform Street Designation Proposal under the supervision of Dubai Municipality. The platform aims to enable public participation in proposing names for roads and streets across Dubai. This is in line with the Committee’s objectives of preserving the legacy of the past, promoting civilization, staying updated with the Emirate’s future development, and highlighting its achievements of high value.
H.E. Dawoud Al Hajri, Director General of Dubai Municipality, Chairman of the Dubai Road Naming Committee, stated that the platform is part of the efforts and plans of the Integrated Committee to promote community participation in submitting proposals for naming roads and streets across various areas of the Emirate. This is in accordance with approved classifications that aim to revive heritage names, highlight national identity and social and cultural characteristics that reflect the emirate’s history, heritage, values, social and cultural wealth, and consistency with future development and orientation.
Al Hajri said: “The new platform serves as a digital system, allowing the public to suggest names for streets and roads across Dubai, keeping in mind a comprehensive method and specific criteria that reflects our identity and interrelationship between past, present and future of Dubai. It aims to revive valuable historical meanings, heritage, and urban monuments, in line with Dubai’s leading global position and reputation, further consolidating diverse areas of the Emirate in the minds of present and future generations.”
Road Naming Classifications
Furthermore, the committee has devised a method for proposing names based on specific classifications that will inspire the names for each area. These classifications include names linked to Arabic and Islamic design and architecture, along with names associated to art, culture and Arabic poetic prosody.
It will also encompass names of natural phenomena, local plants, trees, flowers, marine, and wild plants, along with the names of wild and marine birds. Additionally, it will also cover names related to environmental sustainability, ships, marine tools, fishing, winds, and rain.
On the other hand, the classifications will further include names of squares, forts, ancient castles, archaeological sites, local and ancient jewelry, and horse and Arabian camel names and descriptions. It will also include names of types of palms and date palms, names of farming and agriculture professions, as well as those inspired by industrial and artisanal professions and their tools, names of gemstones, and names related to inventions and modern technology.
The public can contribute by proposing names for roads and streets through the platform link: https://roadsnaming.ae.
New Names for Roads in Al-Khawaneej 2 Area
Moreover, the committee has completed naming roads in the Al-Khawaneej 2 area in its trial phase, which included names inspired by local trees, plants, and flowers, such as Ghaf Street, Ghaf being one of the most famous types of local trees, which will between the first and second Al-Khawaneej areas. Additionally, other names of trees were also used for streets such as Sidr, Reehan, Faghi, Samer, and Shareesh.
The Dubai Road Naming Committee was established by Executive Council Resolution No. (35) of 2021 and is led by the Director General of Dubai Municipality. It includes the Director General of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, CEO of the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Center, CEO of the Traffic and Roads Agency at the RTA, and four experienced and expert representatives of Dubai citizens – Mr. Abdullah Thani Al Mataroushi, Mr. Hameed Sultan Al Matyouai, Mr. Juma Bin Thalith, and Mr. Rashid Boukhash.
The committee follows a specific criterion for naming roads in the emirate, aiming to highlight Dubai’s national identity by reflecting its history, heritage, values, and cultural, civilizational, and social richness.
The naming process fundamentally relies on the principle of inference, achieved by creating a method that allows people to connect with the mental image of a place through its names, signs, and location details. With this new approach, street names will possess a unique and distinct character, making it easier to reach destinations seamlessly using the new addressing system.
