Hudayriyat & Al Bateen MarinaAbu Dhabi
Sheikha Fatima Park
A ladies' park from another era rebuilt as an urban forest of reclaimed materials, skate ramps and an open-air amphitheatre.
Sheikha Fatima Park is a 46,000-square-metre urban park in the Khalidiya district, on Al Bateen Street a few minutes from the Corniche. It opened in 2021 on the site of the former Khalidiyah Ladies Park, redeveloped by Abu Dhabi placemaker IMKAN Properties in partnership with the Department of Municipalities and Transport, and named in tribute to Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, the Mother of the Nation, in recognition of her work on women's empowerment and community wellbeing.
The landscape architecture is by Cracknell, with architecture by Benoy. The design converts what had been a walled women-and-children-only sanctuary into a fully inclusive public space organised around active lifestyles and sport, in line with the Abu Dhabi Vision 2030 agenda. Cracknell divided the site into three zones — a Discovery Zone, an Adventure Zone and an Experience Zone — linked by the consistent use of raw and reclaimed materials set within an urban forest of dense planting.
Roughly 10,000 square metres of retail and food and beverage is threaded into the landscape rather than parcelled off, producing the park-within-a-city character the design aimed at. Facilities include a skate park with ramps, basketball and paddle courts, playgrounds, a free splash pad, fitness areas and generous informal seating. An open-air amphitheatre anchors the programme space and hosts outdoor cinema screenings, live music and community events; the park runs an extended late-night programme during Ramadan.
The park is free to enter and open daily from early morning until late evening. Street parking in the surrounding Khalidiya blocks fills up quickly at peak times.
Exhibo editorial
A ladies' park became a skate park. Not metaphorically — the walls came down, the ramps went in, and eleven-year-olds now practise kickflips on ground that was, within living memory, closed to men entirely. Whatever you make of that as social history, it is the most legible piece of it anywhere in central Abu Dhabi, and it happened in about two years.
The material choice is what makes it work rather than merely well-meaning. Cracknell built the thing out of raw and reclaimed stuff and let the planting go dense and slightly unruly, which in a city whose default park language is manicured lawn and decorative palm reads almost as a provocation. It looks used. It looks like somewhere things get worn out and replaced. Come on a Friday evening when the amphitheatre has a film on and the cafés have spilled onto the grass, and it is the rare Gulf public space that feels less designed than inhabited.
Gallery
How to find it
On Al Bateen Street in the Khalidiya district, a few minutes inland from the Corniche and walkable from much of central Abu Dhabi. Enter from the Al Bateen Street side for the Discovery Zone and the main café strip; the skate park, playgrounds and splash pad sit deeper in the Adventure Zone, with the open-air amphitheatre between them. Street parking in the surrounding blocks fills fast at weekends and in the evening, so come early or arrive by taxi. Free entry, open daily from early morning to late evening.
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