Sustainability at an Urban Level: A Case Study of a Neighborhood in Dubai, UAE

Abstract

The United Arab Emirates is witnessing enormous growth and the sustainability attitude has become one of the most important priorities in this development. This paper aims to optimize the environmental sustainability of the Emirate of Dubai communities by adopting an existing community as a case study. The investigation of the case study is looking at sustainability levels that consists of two major factors in neighborhood sustainable design, such as livability and thermal performance. The strategy of enhancing and optimizing the communities’ sustainability starts with an approach to the applicable modifications and solutions to the existed community master planning, where the modifications cover the two main urban design variables; (a) building design, and (b) open and landscape areas. The effect of the adopted scenarios is analyzed to find the improvement in environmental and thermal performance. The study has adopted two computer software packages, namely CityCAD and Integrated Environmental Solutions—Virtual Environment (IES-VE), to undertake the assessments. Furthermore, factors of urban sustainability are evaluated using the United States Green Building Council (USGBC)’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) neighborhood assessment tool. The results have shown that the environmental sustainability levels can be increased after the adoption of certain suggested scenarios, in order to mitigate the likely weakness indicated in the livability aspects, covering land-use diversity, accessibility, transportation system, green and landscape areas, and energy efficiency, and the case study community can be turned toward “Sustainable Community” by implementing recommended actions and modifications.

Measuring the sustainability of neighborhoods: A systematic literature review

“… 34 Several of our reviewed articles studied the relationship between the physical form of neighborhoods and sustainability aspects. Researchers linked the neighborhood form and morphology to the quality of life, 35 , 36 resident satisfaction, 37 social sustainability, 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 vitality, 18 the socioeconomic composition of neighborhoods, 42 environmental sustainability, 43 , 44 , 45 solar energy access and resilience, 46 sociocultural sustainability, 47 and economic sustainability. 48 , 49 Figure 7 visualizes the relationship between various sustainable neighborhood criteria from the reviewed articles.…”

“… 48 , 49 Figure 7 visualizes the relationship between various sustainable neighborhood criteria from the reviewed articles.

Figure 7 Relationship between urban form and morphology and the sustainability criteria measured in the reviewed articles 18 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49

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“… Relationship between urban form and morphology and the sustainability criteria measured in the reviewed articles 18 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 …”

Analyzing the Housing Consumer Preferences via Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

“…In addition, it can be seen that the meaning of a satisfaction survey on the current residence is not a direct survey on preferred housing. It can also be seen that an in-depth study on the external environment is needed since many existing studies focus on the characteristics inside the house rather than the neighborhood characteristics [ 33 , 34 ]. Considering the limitations of these current findings, this study investigated the preference for neighborhood characteristics among the housing determinants as a general theory for all housing types ( Table 1 ).…”

Application of the USEC Framework for Assessing Potential Linkages of Al-Khobar City to its Waterfront

“…In the same way, Hajna et al (2015) have identified street connectivity as one of the three factors affecting a neighborhood's residents' health and physical activities; the others are mixed land use and residential density. In addition, Shareef and Altan (2021) proved in their study on neighborhoods of Dubai city that the livability level of the community was increased by the enhancement of the land use diversity, accessibility, and walkability to major facilities, building height diversity, and the quality of green areas. However, Oliver et al (2015) have highlighted street connectivity as an effective factor in the physical activities of residents, while Koohsari et al (2016a;2016b) have considered street connectivity as one of the indicators of "neighborhood walkability".…”