Recovery, protection and growth: Creating the conditions for successful cities and regions

Over the past decade, Prior + Partners has become a trusted adviser to governments, development authorities and major investors around the world, working across projects that range from individual sites and developments to the transformation of cities and regions, as well as the protection and enhancement of heritage and sensitive landscapes.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has become a particularly important part of this work, alongside a broader global portfolio. Our role increasingly extends into the decisions that sit behind these projects, underpinned by a clear, digital evidence base, and drawing on planning, masterplanning, landscape and economics to help define opportunities and give them clear direction.

Last week, that conversation took us to Benghazi, where we attended the Global Competitive Urban Planning Initiative (GCUPI-B) and presented our proposed concept, the Benghazi 2050: Next Generation City Plan, developed alongside our consortium partners A&O TEC, Zaha Hadid Architects, Systematica, Fichtner, Homa and Buro Happold.

Over the previous six months, the consortium has developed an evidence base for the Next Generation City Plan, bringing together the built and natural environment, the economy and population, and the systems of transport and infrastructure that support the city.

This has informed a proposed Vision and Spatial Strategy for Benghazi as an economic and cultural capital at the gateway between Africa and Europe, with proposals for more focused growth, the regeneration of the historic centre, reconnection with the waterfront, protection of the natural environment and a more sustainable mobility network.

The work comes together in a Benghazi Digital Planning Hub, an active digital environment shared with the city’s authorities and stakeholders, designed to support the continued planning and management of Benghazi. It brings the evidence base and emerging strategy into one place, providing the foundation for a digital twin and supporting delivery through to 2050. For Prior + Partners, it also illustrates how our Place+ tools can bring evidence, analysis, design and engagement into the same environment, giving clients a practical resource they can continue to use as the city develops.

Working internationally means working with the people who already know a place best. In Benghazi, that means working closely with clients, local communities, stakeholders, institutions and specialist consultants, drawing on their knowledge alongside our own experience. The result is not simply an international perspective applied to a local context, but a more informed understanding of the place and of what its future might require.

Our work in MENA has been built over many years, through projects that have taken us into very different places and forms of development. AlUla was an important foundation. Commissioned by the Royal Commission for AlUla in 2019 to develop the strategic regional Framework Plan and associated planning policy and guidelines, our role expanded to include several detailed masterplans within the core heritage area, alongside Masterplan Guardianship and Design Advisory.

The work has brought landscape, heritage, movement, economic development and new destinations into a single long-term framework. Across the Cultural Oasis, Wadi Al Fann, Dadan and Jabal Ikmah, new cultural and visitor activity is being planned alongside the restoration and protection of the landscapes, heritage assets and agricultural systems that underpin AlUla’s identity.

Since then, our work in Saudi Arabia has broadened considerably. The King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Royal Reserve, spanning around 130,000 square kilometres, combines conservation, local communities, sustainable development and economic opportunity, with our work extending from catalyst masterplans through to detailed design guidelines.

Our work across Dhurma and Al-Muzahmiya, in the Western Riyadh Hinterland, has taken a complementary approach, establishing a long-term framework for sustainable growth through spatial planning, policy, infrastructure and development controls, alongside economic diversification, nature-based tourism, sustainable agriculture and education.

The significance of that work was underscored last week by Saudi Arabia’s approval of the 4,310 square kilometre Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal Nature Reserve, encompassing Dhurma, Al-Muzahmiya and the areas between them.

The reserve sets environmental protection and ecosystem restoration alongside economic and social development, while providing a framework for managing future urban growth and protecting the area’s rural character and historic identity.

In Abu Dhabi, Musaffah presents a different set of questions. The 40 square kilometre industrial area and port, with 21 kilometres of waterfront, is being considered as part of a long-term transformation into a future-facing network of complementary industrial clusters, with the potential to support significant new employment and residential development. The work combines strategic planning, masterplanning, place economics and landscape, supported by a framework plan, concept masterplan and implementation strategy.

In Al Ain, we are contributing to wider thinking about the city’s future through the development of a masterplan for Wasat Al Madina – a place where its distinctive heritage, oasis landscape and established communities are central to its identity.

Alongside our public-sector work, we are working with major clients including MODON and Aldar, as well as others across the region, on major lifestyle and destination projects, including port-city projects in the UAE and new residential and experience-led districts in Saudi Arabia.

Building our presence in MENA

The expansion of this work has also shaped our presence in the region. Since opening our Dubai office last year, our team on the ground has continued to grow, bringing us closer to clients, local partners and specialist consultants across MENA. The appointment of Amer Mneimneh as Regional Managing Director has been an important part of that growth.

‘’Our projects represent national development, not just urban design,” says Mneimneh. “They demonstrate the region’s ambition to innovate, attract talent, and create integrated, sustainable places that honour cultural heritage while looking forward.”

Having a team based in the region allows us to build relationships over time and work more closely with the people and organisations who understand these places from the inside. It also gives us a stronger platform from which to connect that local knowledge with the wider experience of Prior + Partners.

The Middle East and North Africa is an important part of our international work, but it sits within a broader global practice. As our work continues to span cities, regions and landscapes in different parts of the world, the common thread is not the plans themselves, but how we arrive at them: building the evidence base, increasingly through tools like our Place+ platform, so that the decisions that follow, on growth, heritage, infrastructure and investment, are the right ones for that place and its future.

Read more about our City and Regional planning offer: here.

Find out more about Place+: https://placeplus.priorandpartners.com/