A theme
for makers
Dubai has witnessed an unprecedented growth during the past three decades, which transformed it into a global metropolis. While a lot of efforts and investments are focused on design and construction of avant-garde buildings and stunning landmarks, the quality of the public realm is still lagging behind. We believe the essence of all cities lies in their public places and that rethinking the streets of Dubai will be the key element to consider in the upcoming planning and design challenges.
There is a myth that nobody walks or wants to walk in Dubai. We surveyed kilometers of roads during all seasons and times of the day: we found plenty of places where people gather, talk and move around by foot or on bicycle, despite the fact that many of them are not designed for that.
Studying available information and predicting future possibilities are the two key elements defining the planning process. In order to study the current situation of Dubai urban fabric, the following five cutting-edge analytical tools are used:
- Walk Score© for measuring the accessibility by foot to functions and services, in order to identify more lively neighborhoods where people have better chances of moving on foot
- Pedestrian Level Of Service (PLOS) for evaluating safety and comfort levels across the entire city, providing effective indications on priority of interventions
- Public Transport Accessibility Level (PTAL) for understanding the efficiency of connection with public transport network by taking into account the walking time to a public transport stop, the number and the frequency of services at that stop.
- Space Syntax for measuring the intuitiveness of the routes for pedestrians from origin to destination, in order to identify the streets and junctions with high pedestrian footfall
- CUBE by Citilabs for pedestrian simulation and modelling for replicating the current pedestrian flow patterns enabling the planners with a more informed design decisions especially for crowd management of major events.