Plan. Implement. Measure. A basic building-block formula that seems easy to undertake but is not. Dubai, however, has always been an exception to this rule. Its ability to plan meticulously, implement impressively and measure the outcomes consistently have accorded it an enviable position on the global stage. And now, the launch of Dubai Plan 2021 by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, sees the emirate voluntarily raise the bar for itself again.
The Dubai Plan 2021 honours the greatest responsibility of statecraft — people’s well-being. ‘Creating a City of Happy, Creative and Empowered People’, is not only the first of the plan’s six themes, it is also at the heart of it. As Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, said at the launch, “Dubai 2021 is a city that puts people first”. The remaining five themes — an inclusive and cohesive society, the preferred place to live and work in, a smart, sustainable city, a pivotal hub in the global economy and a pioneering and excellent government — are radially charged by the kinetic energy of a happy, creative, empowered people. The success of the first theme predicates the rest.
The fact that Dubai chose self-scrutiny as the baseline for this plan is to its everlasting credit. Studying various benchmark cities around the world to identify their best practices across the spectrum, and draw for itself from those paradigms, is the sign of robust, progressive governance. It is the mark of an entity that is unafraid to challenge its own assumptions in order to improve. The plan also tapped into the minds of a multiple cross-section of people — from university students to government officials in Dubai and international experts and social media denizens around the world — to gain their insights, another commendably inclusive approach.
However, Dubai has not been content with planning and implementation alone. Six hundred Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will relentlessly monitor the plan’s progress. It is leaving no stone unturned. And that can only mean one thing — the road ahead is smooth all the way to 2021.
