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Since November 2022, our research has explored the unique character of Ras Al-Khaimah’s traditional markets through site visits, interviews, and lessons within similar contexts across the region. This first phase helped us understand their cultural value and everyday role, while also gathering community-driven ideas for improvement. Now, in the second phase, we shift focus to the future, asking how these markets can grow and adapt without losing their soul. How can we support change that keeps their spirit alive?

As the study progresses, we are focusing more on what the everyday users of RAK’s traditional markets envision for their future. Instead of relying on predetermined decisions, we’re looking at how improvements can come from the community, including the vendors, workers, and shoppers. Since early 2023, we’ve been speaking with them through interviews, focus groups, and market visits to understand their daily lived experiences and ideas for making the markets better.

A strong collective message came through from the community: people aren’t asking for change just for the sake of modernization. What they want are simple, thoughtful upgrades that make the markets more comfortable, welcoming, and easier to access — without losing their cultural identity. Suggestions included more shade, better signage, more seating, improved lighting, and greener, more walkable paths. These small, people-centered interventions reflect everyday needs and are shaped by local knowledge.

Our approach builds on the ideas of everyday urbanism, which looks at how people use and shape cities in their daily lives, through routines, informal habits, and sensory experiences. We walked through the markets with participants and recorded their views of each space, helping us understand both the challenges and the possibilities. In Kuwaiti Souq, Old RAK Market, Al-Mairid Souq, and Old Nakheel Market, participants shared practical ideas for improvement that preserve, rather than replace, the markets’ unique character.

Looking ahead, we are preparing to launch a new and crucial stage: the development of a participatory revitalization plan by conducting further surveys, public meetings, and a focus group to engage key stakeholders, vendors, workers, shoppers, and visitors through a co-design process to develop actionable strategies. With support from the Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research, this initiative will advance inclusive decision-making rooted in the community’s knowledge and aspirations.

In dialogue with findings from the ongoing survey and regional comparisons, where traditional markets across the Gulf are increasingly absorbed into tourism and urban branding, RAK offers a different model: one grounded in co-creation, not spectacle. By centering local voices, the emirate has the opportunity to lead with a culturally grounded, socially approach to urban regeneration.

Ultimately, revitalizing RAK’s markets must go beyond surface-level upgrades. It should reflect how people use these spaces, how they walk, shop, connect, and remember. Real change begins at the street level, shaped by those who live and work in the community every day.

As our research moves forward, we will create clear, user-friendly maps and visuals to guide upcoming workshops with local stakeholders. These conversations will help shape practical ideas for improving the markets while preserving their cultural character. This collaborative process aims to turn RAK’s markets into lively, welcoming spaces that honor local traditions while meeting the needs of a changing city.

Stay tuned as we step into this exciting next chapter, where planning meets participation, and tradition meets transformation.