Simona Azzali

While Singapore often tops the rankings as the most liveable city in Asia, especially due to its easy access to public amenities, active mobility, including walking and cycling, only accounts for a minority of all ridership in the city-state. This raises two key questions: 1) what factors hinder walkability in Singapore and 2) how can the built environment be improved to promote active mobility. This study argues that the lack of detailed urban design guidelines impedes the creation of pedestrian-friendly environments, especially for public housing neighbourhoods that form the main urban landscape of Singapore. It first diagnoses the main problems pertaining to poor walkability of public housing neighbourhoods at four different dimensions, namely connectivity, closeness and spatial distribution, comfort and safety. Then, it explores the possibility of using Form-based Codes (FBC) to improve walkability for these areas. On this basis, a series of guidelines and recommendations for improving walkability in public housing neighbourhoods are proposed. This study for the first time explores applying FBC to high-density tropical cities in Asia. The research findings indicate that the FBC principles and methods for improving neighbourhood walkability are also potentially useful for other similar urban environments of tropical Asian cities.

Preventing the complete social restructuring and the relocation of migrant communities from traditional cores in Gulf cities to newly urbanized areas is a rising urban and social challenge. The Al Asmakh district in the old centre of Doha is an important example that manifests the current encounter between rising investment pressures and preserving the local identity including the particular urban life and spatial settings that have evolved over several decades. This paper presents key research findings with respect to the lived urban spaces of the Al Asmakh in order to exemplify the potential loss of very distinctive neighbourhoods and to introduce particular characteristics of urban spaces and the way migrant communities appropriate them. As part of a learning experiment undertaken at Qatar University in 2014, structured field surveys, systematic observations as well as behavioural mapping techniques were adopted as important approaches to investigation. The outcomes reveal stimulating dynamics between migrant communities and their environments. It also postulates that city residents have the capacity to recover swiftly from difficulties and resilience in spite of an impeding and hampering context. The paper concludes with projections of how contemporary transformation processes in Gulf cities will have to be based on diversity and social inclusion. Such a transformation should stem from the recognition that migrant communities need to have access to develop their own settings that relate to their routine spatial practices while securing the economic basis of many migrant labourers.
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See full paper here:
https://cityterritoryarchitecture.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40410-017-0061-5

Salama, A. M. and Azzali, S. (2015) Examining Attributes of Urban Open Spaces in Doha. Proceedings of the ICE - Urban Design and Planning, 168(2), pp. 1-13. ISSN # 1755-0793 http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/udap.14.00011

With intensive emerging and transforming urban spaces and centres, the city of Doha is experiencing continual rapid growth. However, minor attention has been paid to important growth aspects. This paper examines functional, social and perceptual attributes of three urban open spaces in the city by developing and implementing a walking tour assessment procedure composed of checklists and a scoring system. Results reveal important outcomes including the absence of landscape features and a dearth of green spaces or appropriate outdoor furniture, the absence of adequate shaded areas and shading devices and parasols and a lack of children's facilities or a specially designated area for children among other missing elements. These represent shortcomings that impede the maximum efficient and effective utilisation of such spaces. The paper suggests that opportunities to concretise and fulfil people's needs in open spaces should be underscored by urban planners, architects and policy-makers in a multicultural rapidly growing city.

Designing and implementing sustainable solutions means to take responsibility for the welfare of future generations as well as for our environment and the planet. Positive approach towards sustainability should be an essential part of the ethical base of our lifestyle and actions. Moreover, sustainable development is a vital aspect of the educational agenda at all levels. Universities and higher education institutions have a great responsibility in promoting sustainable development, not only through the educational programs they offer but also through the involvement of students and staff in the sustainability issues, by encouraging interaction with them. Universities should implement sustainable solutions and adopt sustainability in their plans, and ultimately they should have an impact on the society and lead the way by offering knowledge, solutions through influential individuals. Indeed, most universities understood the responsibility and the extreme importance of shifting to more sustainable policies and plans, and most of them have started investing in green buildings future that includes, green building, greener practices, and green products along with less environmental impact, and ways of engaging its faculty and students.In the last few years, the need for sustainable solutions for universities has rapidly increased. Many efforts have been dedicated to this issue, and now many universities have realized and implemented different plans that suit their needs and nature. These programs have achieved sustainable transport, energy, procurement, food services and many other issues.In this research, a review of other universities’ sustainability plans is used to derive a strategy aimed to improve sustainability inside Qatar University by introducing new solutions, evaluating current implemented methods, and assessing or promoting the use of services already in place. The sustainability plan is designed to deliver a strategic blueprint to meet the future development at Qatar University campus via converting its operations, education and research activities towards more sustainable practices. The proposed plan is designed based on the collaboration of three university bodies (students, academics, and administrative staff), and it is outlined in three main branches: operational; planning and administration; education and research. The plan identifies and maps the required action to build the initiative to achieve sustainable goals at QU, and proposes new ways to face the challenge of sustainability in academic campuses. The plan also helps in offering a benchmark model for peer higher education organizations inside Qatar, and for other institutions outside Qatar with similar conditions.

Abstract The use of didactic games in order to promote scientific culture leads to innovative methodologies and technologies that can be very effective for the learning process of students or simply to make them more curious about “critical disciplines” such as ...

Restructuring historic centres in Gulf cities has been a trend in recent years. Yet, a large share of these centres is still populated by lower income migrant communities, particularly male labourers from South Asia. Qatar’s capital Doha and Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates are important examples, where the local identity of their city centres including the particular urban life and spatial settings have been highly affected by the everyday practices of migrant groups over several decades. The continuous exchange of migrants led to a continuous import of new ways how public spaces are perceived and used. Multicultural realities are therefore increasingly prevailing and have led to local decision makers experiencing a conflicted local identity. Due to the fact that national citizens have moved to suburbs and have usually been avoiding these central public spaces, urban life is to a large extent defined by migrants. This contribution presents findings on lived public spaces of central city districts and on the characteristics of urban spaces and the way in which migrant communities appropriate them. The methodological approach of this study includes structured field surveys, systematic observations as well as behavioural mapping techniques.

Due to current tendencies to replace deteriorating areas within central districts, many Gulf cities are facing the potential loss of very distinctive neighbourhoods, which have however not been recognised as important factors for a local urban identity. Instead, migrant networks and practices are often seen as less important in developing place-making strategies due to their limited economic impact. Thus, historic parts of Gulf cities are mainly explored for their potential role as touristic and commercial centres instead of integrating various measures to connect public spaces and to enable an overall local economic development. Subsequently, major developments have been launched to entirely replace old building stock and to reconfigure urban fabrics. The Souq Waqif or the Msheireb projects in Doha are only two examples of a tendency to commercialise spaces rather than to preserve spatial and economic ties between existing communities. This paper focuses on two specific districts, known as Al Asmakh in Doha and Al Muraba’a in Al Ain, in order to illustrate both the general characteristics of dynamics between traditional public spaces and low income migrant communities, which have to be acknowledged for any attempt to integrate spatial and social diversity.

The outcomes reveal stimulating dynamics between migrant communities and their environments. It also postulates that city residents have the capacity to recover swiftly from difficulties and resilience in spite of an impeding spatial context. The paper concludes with projections of how contemporary transformation processes in Gulf cities will benefit from social inclusion. Such a transformation should stem from the recognition that migrant communities need to have access to develop their own settings that relate to their routine spatial practices while securing the economic basis of those communities.