Cities often emerge as ideas before they become places, taking shape first as visions that precede construction and expectations that form long before streets open and neighborhoods take shape, on paper new city projects appear to be rational responses to challenges such as congestion, rising housing costs, and concentrated economic activity, yet their real test emerges in the gap between how the idea is presented and how the place functions once it becomes ready for use, and whether it aligns with the needs of those meant to live and invest in it.

 

Large urban projects, especially those dependent on private sector investment, bring together investors, developers, contractors, and future residents within a shared decision space, each group approaches the project with different priorities, but the shared timing of commitment often leads all parties toward cautious delay, this behavior does not reflect weakness in the project itself, but rather the nature of collective decisions introduced at an early stage, where hesitation becomes a natural feature of a city’s initial phase.

 

In this context, the issue is not primarily funding or technical planning, but the relationship people form with the place itself, cities are not experienced as engineering plans, but as settings for daily life, when a city is presented as a complete and finalized concept before its lived experience begins to take shape, it may remain convincing as a vision while feeling distant as a place, this gap in the sense of place does not signal rejection, but indicates that the city has not yet entered people’s imagined routines.

 

This gap appears differently across stakeholders, investors may see a large project without a familiar frame that connects decisions to operational reality, developers may find the link between construction and use incomplete while social signals remain absent, families may find the city attractive in concept but difficult to imagine in terms of daily routines, children’s movement, and the rhythm of ordinary days, at this stage hesitation reflects waiting for clarity rather than opposition.

 

Reducing the gap in the sense of place does not come through promotion, but through project design itself, this is reflected in investment models that bring decisions closer to operational reality, such as granting long term usage rights instead of immediate land sales, or linking payments to actual phases of operation, these approaches make participation easier and more attractive for investors by reducing upfront decision costs and spreading risk over time, when development follows a clear and adjustable phasing strategy, land use and service provision become traceable and assessable at each stage rather than based on abstract assumptions.

 

For families, attachment to place strengthens when daily life becomes easier to picture, clarity around school locations, services, early neighborhoods, and the timing of amenities allows households to evaluate the city as a realistic option rather than a distant idea, allowing future users to provide input before certain lifestyle related decisions are finalized further aligns planning choices with actual patterns of use, with gradual development the city shifts from a planned abstraction to a lived environment, making the sense of place an outcome of use rather than an assumption made in advance.

 

Global experience illustrates how this approach works in practice, in its early stages Dubai was not presented as a fully defined urban model, but as an environment shaped through use and experimentation, flexible regulation and varied partnership models allowed investors and residents to influence development through engagement rather than anticipation, similarly the Ørestad district in Copenhagen adopted gradual development and adaptable public spaces, allowing identity to form alongside everyday activity rather than being imposed from the outset.

 

The conclusion is that successful city development projects are not defined by the scale of ambition or the completeness of initial plans, but by their ability to function as gradual and evaluable processes, narrowing the gap in the sense of place through flexible investment models and planning tied to real patterns of use makes investment and housing decisions more grounded in reality and strengthens long term sustainability, cities that grow with their users rather than ahead of them tend to become more resilient and endure longer.

 

Zaid K. Maaytah is researcher in behavioral economics and public polic