Nadine Hani
Senior Business News Presenter
Sessions (2)
Sessions featuring Nadine Hani at LIVEX | Main Stage
Belonging is infrastructure
The session reframed infrastructure as more than roads, utilities, bridges, and buildings: it argued that belonging and social connection should be treated as essential design outcomes in city-building. Moderator Nadine Hani opened by contrasting traditional city metrics such as GDP, traffic flow, and transit speeds with the idea that social connection is as fundamental to human health as clean air and water. The central question for the panel was how cities can intentionally create, and eventually measure, a sense of belonging through streets, public spaces, neighborhoods, technology, and community-oriented planning. His Excellency Engineer Eisa Muzrouei described the Department of Municipalities and Transport and the Infrastructure Development Directorate’s approach as a collaborative journey with the community. He emphasized that projects are not designed simply to be delivered, but to create daily value, improve livability, and make Abu Dhabi more enjoyable for residents and visitors. He gave specific examples: the Al Arabiya Marine Bridge reduced peak travel time to Al Arabiya Island by fifteen minutes, equal to 60%, while Abu Dhabi added up to 350 parks and expanded cycle tracks from 900 kilometers to more than 2,000 kilometers. These projects, he said, came through collective work among government stakeholders and the community. Jim Hagemann Snabe then introduced a framework for thinking about urban development beyond technological feasibility and financial viability. He argued that cities must also be desirable, especially in the sense of creating community. He warned that as technology and AI take more attention, cities have an opportunity and obligation to keep the focus on human beings rather than screens. He cited the fifteen-minute city as a model for reducing commuting and strengthening local community, and described successful urban technology as something that becomes invisible: predicting behavior, reducing wasted traffic time, optimizing buildings, and improving services behind the scenes. Ahmed Baghoum connected these ideas to Masdar City, saying its master plan has centered on human beings since 2006. He described a city designed around livability, where people can work, send children to school, spend evenings, and access essential destinations within roughly fifteen minutes. He also outlined Masdar City’s three sustainability pillars: environmental, commercial, and social sustainability. The ecosystem includes schools, the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, and more than 2,500 companies in the economic zone, all intended to make it easier for people to work, play, live, and build community.
The life between the landmarks — A conversation with Mohammed Alabbar
Mohammed Alabbar’s central message was that landmark development is only valuable when it creates everyday life around it: public spaces, services, maintenance, cultural programming, and community trust. Responding to Nadine Hani’s opening question about Burj Khalifa and the role of landmarks, he said landmarks matter because they express national pride, engineering ambition, and a city’s desire to be recognized through something people can gather around and identify with. But he quickly shifted the emphasis away from selling real estate units, describing the “one bedroom, two bedroom, three bedroom” business as boring. The real work, he argued, is to act like a conductor bringing different instruments together into a coherent experience that can make a place feel alive. On livability and lasting value, Alabbar grounded his answer in humility toward the communities where developers work. Because his companies operate across about 20 countries and build sites of 5 million, 6 million, and now 10 million square meters, he said each place requires listening, respect for local needs, respect for the environment, and attention to economic impact. He emphasized that development should create jobs and uplift the business community directly and indirectly. He also gave very practical advice: do not be “a cheapen”; invest in sidewalks, parks, and long-term maintenance. He framed homebuying as a family’s most important lifetime purchase and argued that a developer’s responsibility continues after the sale, including maintaining and caring for the community years later. When asked how to reconcile shareholder returns with beautiful public spaces, Alabbar acknowledged that both public and private companies face KPIs, audit committees, and pressure for returns. His answer was not to reject returns, but to manage risk, read markets carefully, control debt levels, and hire and retain strong people. He then contrasted greenfield development with culturally and naturally sensitive places such as Al Ain, saying the same principle applies: respect the community, regulation, local authorities, and the specific delicacy of the place. His Belgrade example showed how early activation can build goodwill before sales: cleaning old ships from a riverside, adding a 1.5 kilometer bicycle, walking and running route, playgrounds, landscaping, containers for F&B, and opening it to the public. He linked that broader “orchestra” of art, music, food, wellness, sidewalks, trees, and lighting to a price move from about €1,600–€1,700 per square meter to €6,000 per square meter over roughly nine years. In the technology section, Alabbar treated AI and technology as unavoidable tools rather than decorative features. He agreed they can enhance performance, make teams smarter, and improve efficiency, but stressed that they should increase livability rather than exist for their own sake. His Maldives project example focused on water systems: with technology connecting air-conditioning condensation, purification, showers, sinks, and reuse, he said they might not need to build a desalination plant. For him, the promise of AI was its ability to penetrate knowledge, summarize solutions, and support better environmental and operational decisions inside real development projects.