TITLE:
Designing for Everyday Social Connection in UAE Housing: Courtyard Principles, Vertical Living and the ESEO Framework
AUTHORS:
Saed Alshanti
KEYWORDS:
Social Sustainability, Housing Design, Everyday Social Encounters, Privacy, United Arab Emirates
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.14 No.11,
November
9,
2026
ABSTRACT: This article examines how residential spatial design can provide opportunities for voluntary everyday social encounters without compromising privacy and climatic comfort in the United Arab Emirates. A targeted narrative review and comparative conceptual synthesis draws on research concerning social sustainability, Gulf courtyard housing, and contemporary vertical residential buildings. The analysis identifies six interrelated architectural conditions: graduated privacy, encounter-supportive circulation, usable intermediate space, visibility without forced exposure, climate-responsive pedestrian continuity, and accessible shared destinations. The Everyday Social Encounter Opportunity (ESEO) framework organizes these conditions into a proposed evidence-based design-review protocol. A bounded documentary comparison with two UAE vertical-housing schemes discussed in earlier research shows that published information supports only partial assessment; missing drawings and access or climatic evidence prevent complete judgments. The contribution is a transparent proposal for examining architectural opportunities and documenting insufficient evidence, not a validated measure of social behavior or proof of superiority over existing social-sustainability frameworks. The study argues for culturally responsive, privacy-preserving approaches to housing design and specifies the evidence needed for future comparative validation.