TY - JOUR
T1 - Planning in the age of pandemics
T2 - Renewing suburban design
AU - Alawadi, Khaled
AU - Khanal, Asim
AU - Mouselly, Abdallah
AU - Aletaywi, Abrar Bashar
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the [ Khalifa University ] under Grant [number 8474000184 ].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - The ongoing pandemic has disrupted all dimensions of human life and impacted a variety of disciplines, including urban planning and design. There is an urgent need to design cities to accommodate pandemic-control measures while attending to people's daily needs, including access to outdoor spaces for physical, social, and mental well-being. These requirements for post-pandemic cities have positioned suburbs as a more attractive and viable alternative to compact urban cores. However, the conventional suburban model of low-density, automobile-centric development with fragmented streets cannot foster high levels of accessibility within neighborhoods. This study offers an alternative, evidence-based suburban design model for post-pandemic cities. Quantitative examination of case studies in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, along with illustrations of potential redesign options, show how suburbs can be made more accessible to pedestrian traffic. The study uses the Gravity metric to calculate accessibility at walkable radii of 400 and 800 m. It draws design ideals from high-performing neighborhoods and uses these ideals to redesign low-performing ones. Findings reveal that accessibility in suburban neighborhoods requires integrating several morphological attributes, including plot density, interconnected street networks, and strategic placement of alleys.
AB - The ongoing pandemic has disrupted all dimensions of human life and impacted a variety of disciplines, including urban planning and design. There is an urgent need to design cities to accommodate pandemic-control measures while attending to people's daily needs, including access to outdoor spaces for physical, social, and mental well-being. These requirements for post-pandemic cities have positioned suburbs as a more attractive and viable alternative to compact urban cores. However, the conventional suburban model of low-density, automobile-centric development with fragmented streets cannot foster high levels of accessibility within neighborhoods. This study offers an alternative, evidence-based suburban design model for post-pandemic cities. Quantitative examination of case studies in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, along with illustrations of potential redesign options, show how suburbs can be made more accessible to pedestrian traffic. The study uses the Gravity metric to calculate accessibility at walkable radii of 400 and 800 m. It draws design ideals from high-performing neighborhoods and uses these ideals to redesign low-performing ones. Findings reveal that accessibility in suburban neighborhoods requires integrating several morphological attributes, including plot density, interconnected street networks, and strategic placement of alleys.
KW - Accessibility
KW - Post-pandemic cities
KW - Suburban design
KW - Suburbs
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85140287823&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scs.2022.104261
DO - 10.1016/j.scs.2022.104261
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85140287823
SN - 2210-6707
VL - 87
JO - Sustainable Cities and Society
JF - Sustainable Cities and Society
M1 - 104261
ER -