무스카트의 술탄 하얌 시티: 현대화와 지역 정체성의 균형

### 무스카트의 야심찬 변화: 현대화와 지역 정체성의 균형
* 🏙 오만이 술탄 하얌 시티와 같은 현대화 프로젝트에 수십억 달러를 투자하고 석유 의존도를 넘어서는 미래를 목표로 하면서 **'안티 두바이'로 여겨지던 무스카트가 큰 변화**를 겪고 있습니다.
* 🏗 술탄 하얌 시티는 현지인, 외국인, 관광객을 위한 수천 채의 주택이 있는 다양한 지역에 걸쳐 **10만 명의 주민**을 수용하도록 설계되었으며, 대부분 **6층 이하의 건물**로 저층 건축 양식을 유지합니다.
* 📈 오만의 인구가 **2040년까지 520만 명에서 770만 명**으로 증가할 것으로 예상되는 가운데, 많은 시민이 저밀도 지역의 단독주택을 선호하여 도시가 넓게 형성되면서 주택 문제에 직면해 있습니다.
* 🚉 이러한 문제를 해결하기 위해 정부는 교통량을 줄이고 도시 이동성을 향상시키는 중요한 단계인 **신도시와 구도심을 연결하는 대중교통 시스템**을 구축할 계획입니다.
* 🏖 술탄 하얌 시티는 역사적 매력과 안전으로 관광객을 유치하는 것을 목표로 하고 있지만, **개발의 매력에 이끌려 오만이 두바이의 화려한 도시화를 모방할 수 있다는 우려**도 있습니다.
* 💰 정부는 또한 **13억 달러 규모의 워터프론트 개발**과 같이 무스카트의 스카이라인을 극적으로 바꾸고 지역 주민 간의 부의 격차를 악화시킬 수 있는 주목할 만한 프로젝트를 추가로 추진 중입니다.
* ⚖ 아랍의 봄에서 볼 수 있듯이 높은 불평등은 불안으로 이어질 수 있다는 것을 역사가 보여주고 있듯이 궁극적으로 **오만은 지역적 특성을 보존하고 사회적 불평등을 해결**하면서 현대화해야 하는 과제를 해결해야 합니다.
* 🌍 무스카트의 미래는 **화려한 개발과 주민의 필요와 욕구를 반영하는 인간적인 규모의 친밀한 환경**을 유지하는 것 사이에서 균형을 찾는 데 달려 있습니다.

무스카트는 두바이 도시 개발 모델의 화려한 매력을 피하고 지역 특성을 보존하면서 현대화를 위해 노력합니다.

with its low buildings, long history, and large local population, Muscat has been described by some as the anti-Dubai. But now, as Oman looks towards an economic future without oil, the country is trying to modernize its capital, pouring billions of dollars into projects across the country. One of them is this Sultan Hayam City. It's a new model for a Middle Eastern development that breaks the Dubai archetype. As other countries in the region struggle to execute ambitious visions, Sultan Hayam City is intended to offer a more practical model for a Middle Eastern city. Its buildings are mostly six stories or less, and there are thousands of homes for locals alongside ones for expats and tourists. But some experts worry the country's ambitions may already be outgrowing the project. Muscat is wedged between the Gulf of Oman and the Hajar mountains. It's home to about one-third of the country's rapidly growing population. Oman has a population of about 5.2 million people, but by 2040, it anticipates that number

may increase by 50% to 7.7 million to house them all. The country is investing in a lot of projects. One of the most significant that's underway is happening here. Sult in Higham City is designed to house 100,000 people across more than a dozen neighborhoods, along with 25 mosques and 39 schools. Though for a landmark project in a Middle Eastern capital, the scale and budget are relatively small. The line in Saudi Arabia, for instance, is expected to house 200,000 people after the first phase completes, with a projected cost of $100 billion. And Egypt's controversial new administrative capital, designed to hold more than 6 million people, will cost an estimated $58 billion. Aman's smaller ambitions are both because the country has less money and fewer people, but also because the country highly values its local atmosphere, where native Ammanis actually live in the city and work in service jobs. In Dubai, for instance, only 15% of the city's population are from the UAE. When I visited Masat a few years

ago. One thing that was crystal clear by my Omani hosts was that they do not want Muscat to become another Dubai. They were really insistent on that. It will take a while to see if the new model succeeds. Sultan Heam City won't actually be done until 2045. Oman needs time to convince local people they want to live here. While Oman has a high home ownership rate, the government claims 89% of its citizens own their own homes. The country is still facing some major housing issues, and the government needs to figure out how to get people to live in denser cities. Under the current system, Omanis typically live in single-family homes in low-density areas. Citizens are entitled to free land via a housing lottery, but they often wait years for lots that end up being far from established developments in Muscat. This has led to a sprawling capital with lots of traffic, the biggest issue in the region, and not just in Muscat or Oman, is housing. Leaders in the region have

gotten extremely rich off their country's oil, but they make sure to spend enough on their people to maintain stability. In particular, they've paid for things like free health care, education, and homes. And this is really how regimes in the Arabian Peninsula have been able to secure the loyalty of their citizens through housing policy. But lots of the land these countries have left to develop is farther into the desert, which is expensive to develop and will become increasingly unsustainable as resources decrease. So, there will have to be a sort of a reality check. Sultan Hayam City is designed to put locals in much denser neighborhoods than most currently live in, but maintain the privacy of individual villas. The government is also planning a mass transit system for Muscat that would go here, connecting the new city to the old city. Metro systems have been a long-time goal for countries across the Middle East that want to reduce traffic and improve their international image, but many have found them exorbitantly expensive and time-consuming.

consuming, but this project isn't just about fixing the housing system for locals. Much of the development's housing is for expats and visitors because the mega project is also a key part of Aman's bet on tourism. Aman doesn't currently get as many tourists as some of its neighbors, but the country is hoping it can draw visitors with its picturesque setting and range of historic sites. It's one of the oldest cities in the Middle East. It's also safer and more politically stable than some of its neighbors. So, in theory, it shouldn't need flashy and impressive projects to draw visitors, but some wonder how long it will be able to resist the temptation to imitate neighboring metropolises like Dubai. It is very difficult to resist the seductive allure of a place like Dubai. It really has this hold on people's urban imaginary in that region, and they see what is happening in Dubai and elsewhere, and they simply want to capitalize on that as well. But this approach often prioritizes international

Investment over local people. I've coined the term Dubai, which at its core means that there is a certain mode of urban development that Dubai is promoting, where you basically start from a clean slate, you erase all that has existed in the past, and rebuild it in a different way that is based on transience and temporality, on people not staying for the long term but for a certain amount of time, and then of course the building of all these skyscrapers and towers and spectacular iconic structures. Aman is already planning additional projects in Muscat like this $1.3 billion development on the city's waterfront. Early renderings show the development may include buildings much taller than the country has allowed in the past. It will significantly transform the Muscat skyline. So you have that skyline that was very low-key, now you have these 30-40 story high-rise towers in the center of the city geared towards high-end clientele. So this is not social housing, that is quite problematic. And while shiny new developments may attract

investors and tourists. They often fail to help locals and can lead to more wealth disparity. This isn't as much of an issue in oil-exporting countries while resources remain plentiful, but it could cause issues long-term. When you have a society where inequality is high, then this immediately will lead to social unrest, and social scientists will confirm that the Arab Spring was really a manifestation of that. Of course, it was brutally repressed and put down, so for the moment, things are sort of stable, but in the long run, I don't think that this will last for Muscat. The question will be whether it can successfully maintain its local character as it navigates how to modernize, or whether plans like its new Waterfront will fundamentally alter it in the direction of neighbors like Dubai. There is a way to try to reconcile these two tendencies to both have the spectacular and the more intimate and human-scaled. I don't think that these have to be mutually exclusive. How can you achieve both? It's difficult.

How Oman’s $2.6B ‘Smart’ City Megaproject Disrupts the Dubai Archetype | WSJ Breaking Ground

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The Wall Street Journal

무스카트의 현대화와 술탄 하얌 시티

낮은 건물과 오랜 역사를 자랑하는 무스카트는 오만이 석유 의존에서 벗어나면서 수도를 현대화하기 위해 노력하고 있습니다.

술탄 하얌 시티는 중동의 새로운 개발 모델로, 현지인, 외국인, 관광객이 혼합된 10만 명 수용을 목표로 하고 있습니다.

오만의 소규모 프로젝트와 현지 분위기를 강조하는 것은 사우디아라비아와 이집트 같은 주변 국가의 야심찬 비전과 대조적입니다.

오만 정부는 2045년까지 완공 예정인 술탄 헤암 시티를 통해 무스카트가 또 다른 두바이가 되는 것을 막겠다는 각오를 다지고 있습니다.

오만은 높은 주택 소유율에도 불구하고 주택 문제에 직면해 있으며, 이로 인해 대도시와 교통 문제가 심각합니다.

두바이 정부는 이러한 문제를 해결하고 도시의 지속가능성을 개선하기 위해 고밀도 주거지와 대중교통 시스템을 계획하고 있습니다.

무스카트에 대한 아만의 혁신적 영향력

아만의 무스카트 메가 프로젝트는 외국인과 방문객에게 주택을 제공하는 동시에 도시의 관광을 활성화하는 것을 목표로 합니다.

이 개발 방식은 두바이의 도시 모델을 반영하여 외국인 투자와 임시 거주를 우선시합니다.

아만은 무스카트에서 고층 프로젝트를 추가로 계획하고 있는데, 이는 도시의 스카이라인을 크게 바꾸고 고급 고객층을 겨냥한 것이어서 지역 주민의 소외에 대한 우려를 불러일으키고 있습니다.

투자자와 관광업이 지역사회에 미치는 영향

투자자와 관광객은 특히 자원이 풍부한 석유 수출국에서 지역 사회의 부의 불균형과 사회 불안을 악화시킬 수 있습니다.

아랍의 봄에서 볼 수 있듯이 높은 불평등은 사회 불안으로 이어질 수 있으며, 일시적인 안정이 있을 수 있지만 장기적인 문제가 발생할 가능성이 높습니다.

현대화 과정에서 지역적 특성을 유지하려는 무스카트의 노력은 눈부신 발전과 인간적인 친밀감 사이의 화해 가능성을 제시하며 앞으로의 방향에 대한 의문을 제기합니다.