Between Anticipative and Iconic: Re-imaging the Emirati Villa and its Spatial Assemblages

This article chronicles the evolution of the UAE’s (United Arab Emirates) residential architecture from its pre-urban beginnings in the dwellings of semi-nomadic tribes and coastal merchants to the ‘iconic' villas of the present. A temporal framing of traditional planning practices, including the collaborative roles of Sheikhs and transnational actors (in global and citywide planning networks), provides a narrative about Emirati houses from the pre-oil era (pre-1950s) to the post-federation era (post-1970s). This mapping of housing transitions is useful because previous research in the UAE’s tribal-modern context has largely ignored continuities and contingencies. The discursive relationship between past and present, top-down planning and user-driven bottom-up practice can contribute to a more nuanced understanding of urban development that does not blindly accept dominant views of iconic forms or planning histories.