Sasaki Reimagines Oman’S Second-Largest City With A New Waterfront Masterplan

Salalah is Oman's largest logistics port and its second-largest city. Located within a two-hour flight from Dubai and a 90-minute flight from Muscat, the city attracted over one million tourists in 2024. As part of the Oman Vision 2040 investment plan, Oman's Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning has commissioned Sasaki to develop a master plan for redesigning the city's waterfront. The plan includes renovating the city's coastal public spaces and constructing new housing and infrastructure to accommodate projected growth. The project is part of a broader initiative to double tourism's contribution to the nation's GDP by 2030, with on-site construction set to begin later this year, in 2025.

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The New City Salalah waterfront development designed by Sasaki comprises 12,000 residential units for 60,000 residents across four neighborhoods, 3.5 million square meters of parks, 200,000 square meters of retail and hospitality space, two new hospitals, and integrated multimodal transport links. Covering 7.3 square kilometers, the plan envisions a walkable urban environment, emphasizing 10-minute neighborhoods. It prioritizes mixed-use development and soft mobility, incorporating open spaces, cultural venues, and amenities. The design also features a pedestrianized marina and a new 6-kilometer-long public beach, aimed at attracting travelers.

The masterplan seeks to enhance Salalah's appeal as a year-round sea-and-sun destination at the crossroads of Asia, Europe, and Africa. Romil Sheth from Sasaki highlighted the region's valued natural features, including lush wadis, local agriculture integrated into the city, and an extensive coastline, as key elements complementing the plan's urban design, placemaking, and planning strategies. From a climate resilience perspective, the New City Salalah masterplan includes measures to address rising sea levels and flooding, particularly given the region's khareef monsoon season. These measures include the introduction of a wetland park, revetments, and natural infrastructure strategies to mitigate the impact of extreme weather events.

The waterfront development is an integral part of the Greater Salalah Structural Plan, a framework designed to enhance livability by addressing spatial, infrastructure, and mobility challenges while expanding capacity to accommodate the growing Wilayat Salalah, which is projected to reach a population of 674,000 by 2040. The phased development is scheduled to begin later this year, with 5,827 residential units set for delivery in Phase 1.

This initiative joins other urban planning projects announced earlier this year. In Europe, Zaha Hadid Architects was recently awarded a large-scale urban regeneration project in Naples, while Foster + Partners unveiled plans for the reclamation of a former industrial site in Constanța. In North America, RIOS and Field Operations are advancing a project to transform parking lots into a new neighborhood in Chicago, while in Asia, Uzbekistan is preparing to expand its capital city with a master plan designed by Cross Works. Plans range from industrial land reclamation to densification of under-occupied areas, bringing cities up to speed with the climate resilience and social needs of their societies.