Ras Al Khaimah Placemaking & Visitor Experience Strategy
Mina Al Arab Placemaking
A placemaking reboot for one of Ras Al Khaimah's key destination development.
Expertise: Placemaking Strategy, Destination Vision, Visitor Experience & Mobility Strategy Creative Dialog was engaged to develop a comprehensive placemaking and visitor experience strategy for Mina Al Arab, a major multi-island waterfront destination in Ras Al Khaimah comprising mainland, Hayat Island, and Raha Island precincts.
The project centred on two interconnected challenges: how to activate the underperforming mainland area and how to foster meaningful exploration across the entire destination. With multiple islands, diverse residential communities, luxury resorts including Mandarin Oriental and Anantara, and significant distances between key attractions, visitors were defaulting to singular vehicular journeys rather than engaging with Mina Al Arab as a cohesive destination.
We developed a layered place proposition built around creating purpose, comfort, and mobility across the site. This began with a destination naming study that established distinct identities for eleven districts — from Raha Marina and Hayat Point through to Marbella Bay and the Cultural District — each with its own personality and positioning, while a street naming hierarchy provided intuitive orientation across the development.
For the mainland, we identified key activation drivers including a re-imagined waterfront landscape, a vibrant Cultural District with art walk, a connected 4-star hotel, welcome beacon gateways, and a retail plaza — transforming a previously overlooked zone into a genuine destination anchor.
At the heart of our strategy was a multi-modal connectivity framework integrating pedestrian pathways, water taxi routes via traditional abra, micro-mobility networks, and a site-wide shuttle system. This combined approach unlocks inter-island exploration and delivers visitors to twenty-two destination-wide focal points — from the eco-edutainment Bio Dome and luxury yacht club through to a pedestrian-focused high street and integrated marina hub.
To validate and bring the strategy to life, we designed six detailed visitor journey scenarios demonstrating how students, resort guests, day visitors, active lifestyle residents, and families would each experience the destination differently — confirming that the proposed focal points and mobility network create rewarding, purpose-driven exploration for every audience.
Across the full scope of work, our deliverables included the destination naming and identity framework spanning all eleven districts, the mainland activation strategy anchored by its Cultural District, Art Walk, and Mina Boulevard concepts, and a site-wide mobility and connectivity masterplan weaving together pedestrian, water, shuttle, and micro-mobility networks. This was complemented by visitor journey mapping for six distinct user personas, gateway and arrival experience design, and a public realm and landscape strategy incorporating climate-responsive comfort provisions throughout.
The Mina Al Arab placemaking strategy provides a unified vision that transforms a collection of separate residential and hospitality precincts into an interconnected, explorable destination — where every journey has purpose, every district has personality, and every visitor is rewarded for making the effort to explore.
