🏜️ Dubai's Desert Rainforest: Bold Green Vision or Billion Dollar Mirage?💸

Welcome back to PropTech Pool, your weekly lane swim through the ideas that matter. ⏱️

First up, Bjarke Ingels Group wants to turn Dubai's Jebel Ali Racecourse into a green, walk friendly district with its own tropical park. It sounds inviting, but does a rainforest really belong in the desert, or is it a costly mirage waiting for the next heatwave?

At Google I/O, Google revealed Gemini 2.5 and Project Astra. Your phone could now read plans, flag site issues, and suggest fixes before you even look up. If software starts making the big calls, who will really shape tomorrow's skyline?

Need a dose of optimism? In Tallinn, designers Brasebin and Terrisse built a bus stop pavilion almost entirely from discarded materials, an idea worth considering as the baseline for every bus shelter everywhere.

Ready? Dive in! and do not forget to join the draw to win your free ticket to CREtech London 2025. 🏊‍♂️

🏢 Something BIG is Coming to Dubai 🌴

In Dubai, the Jebel Ali Racecourse is set for a major transformation under a new proposal by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). The five-square-kilometre masterplan envisions a walkable district centred around a large public park, with eight distinct neighbourhoods and an emphasis on human-scale design. The project aims to encourage a shift from car-based mobility to pedestrian-friendly living, aligning with broader goals set out in Dubai’s 2040 Urban Master Plan. With shaded pathways, green spaces, and a focus on community, the development positions itself as a step toward more sustainable urban living in the region.

Why it’s bold:

• Reimagining Urban Mobility: Dubai’s 2040 Urban Master Plan introduces a citywide shift toward walkability and alternative transport. Key elements include shaded sidewalks, low-speed streets designed for pedestrian comfort, and autonomous shuttles aimed at reducing car dependency and enhancing everyday mobility.

• Nature Meets Neighbourhoods: The preserved racecourse becomes the heart of an eco-district, but let’s ask the real questions: What’s the environmental footprint of building a “tropical” park in the desert? How many litres of water a day? How many imported plants? At what carbon cost do we create artificial nature and can we call that “sustainable”?

• KPIs That Count: BIG presents 17 measurable goals related to wellbeing, sustainability, and innovation. One key focus is "outdoor thermal comfort," which is especially relevant in a city where summer temperatures can reach 45°C. For anyone who has experienced that kind of heat, the idea of a cooler, greener environment is clearly appealing. Still, it is worth asking what the environmental impact is behind creating this pleasant oasis.

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🤖 Google Dropped Its Latest AI Updates — And They're a Big Deal for PropTech

During its latest I O 2025 keynote, Google unveiled its newest breakthroughs in both hardware and AI. While the headlines focused on Gemini 2.5 and Project Astra, the implications go far beyond shiny gadgets. Even though PropTech wasn’t called out by name, what Google showed could quietly redefine the built environment. AI is no longer just a tool it’s becoming the invisible architecture that interprets space, action, and even intent. But who gets to design this invisible layer - and who gets left out?

• AI With Spatial Awareness: Gemini 2.5 and Project Astra can see and understand the world around you. For the building industry, this means AI that reads floor plans, catches compliance issues, or flags deviations before a human even shows up.

• Always-On Assistance: Gemini isn’t just embedded in Gmail or Docs. It shadows your every task. It finishes your sentences, rewrites your zoning application, and nudges your next move before you make it. We can’t help but wonder: when productivity becomes prediction, how much of your decision making is really yours?

• From Dashboards to Cameras: Astra transforms live video into insight. It watches your construction site, tracks your materials, corrects your decisions. If AI can see what you missed, human error becomes completely eliminated and we enter into a 100% precision era.

♻️ No Time to Waste: Old Materials Reimagined

We’ve all heard of people re-using old tiles in their bathrooms or kitchens, but what about entire buildings made from what others throw away? At the Tallinn Architecture Biennale, Brasebin & Terrisse’s “No Time to Waste” bus shelter pavilion is built almost entirely from reclaimed waste.

What’s so different?

• Availability Leading Design: The design is determined by the materials available rather than the other way around. The pavilion demonstrates how waste can become the backbone of tomorrow’s built environment, challenging what “new” really means.

• Circular Construction in Action: This pavilion isn’t just a one-off. It’s a working prototype for circular architecture, showing that reuse can deliver both striking aesthetics and real environmental impact.

• Waste as Structure: Think of leftover components and materials destined for landfill, the design doesn’t just hide these elements; it celebrates them, making the building’s sustainable story visible from every angle.

Our Takeaway:
If one pavilion can do this, why not every bus stop? For property developers and designers, the message is clear, the future of building is hiding in plain sight and it’s time to build with what we already have.