Dubai’s older neighbourhoods could hold the key to encouraging more people on to public transport and help ease the city’s traffic congestion, experts have said.

The areas of Deira and Bur Dubai that fringe the Creek and other neighbourhoods such as Satwa are laid out so everything is walkable.

Urban planners could learn from these neighbourhoods to cut car dependency, ease the severe congestion facing Dubai and help people cope with the harsh heat of summer, it is believed.

It comes as the population of Dubai continues to surge, passing the four million mark in August.

Baniyas Square in Deira has a Metro, green areas, offices, housing and cafes. Pawan Singh / The National

“Everyone wants to move to Dubai,” Dr Simona Azzali, associate professor at Canadian University Dubai's school of architecture and interior design, told The National on Tuesday on the sidelines of Urban Future Week. “It's the city where everyone wants to be.”

To cope with the rising population, authorities are boosting public transport such as expanding the bus network, building the huge Dubai Metro Blue Line extension and are set to start the UAE-wide Etihad Rail passenger service next year.

Still, Dubai remains a car-centric city but this could be eased by learning lessons from a past when people walked more and the car was not king.

“Dubai doesn’t need to look to Europe for models of walkable, transit-orientated districts – it can learn from its own history,” said Dr Azzali.

Well connected

"In places like Deira, Bur Dubai and old Satwa, people still walk, take the bus and use the Metro because daily life is close by,