Crossing the street at heart of problem in getting about Abu Dhabi
▶ Excellent network of roads can make it hard to walk or bike between neighbourhoods, transport report says
Abu Dhabi has done much to improve provision for cyclists and pedestrians – but further changes could help make the city more connected, a major new study has said.
Researchers highlighted how major roads in the city, while good at connecting areas that are far apart, separate adjacent neighbourhoods from one another.
Like many other cities in the Gulf, Abu Dhabi has developed with a focus on car travel, but the researchers said it could be altered to better suit public transport systems.
“Cars connect us to the places we have to go,” said one of the report’s authors, Apostolos Kyriazis of Abu Dhabi University.
“However, there are cases where the design of the city … prioritises movement of cars instead of any other element of transportation in the city, including walking, cycling and public transportation.”
The report, Roads (Dis)connecting Cities and Neighbourhoods: A Socio-Spatial Study of Abu Dhabi, is the result of a two-year collaboration between researchers at the London School of Economics and Abu Dhabi University, funded by the Emirates Foundation. It resulted in a major exhibition on Abu Dhabi at the LSE last year.
In the city of Abu Dhabi, which has a population of 1.8 million, 98 per cent of goods are transported by road. Fewer than five per cent of journeys are made by public transport, a figure seen as low but not unusual for major Gulf urban areas.
The way that the major roads connect distant neighbourhoods has supported the city’s rapid development, but at the cost of creating barriers, because they are difficult to cross, the study said.
“The city has developed local cores of activity that remain isolated and constrained by the grid of highways – a typical scenario for a car-centric city,” it read.
Travelling between neighbourhoods can be difficult for pedestrians and motorists, said another of the report’s authors, Alexandra Gomes of the LSE.
During her visits, she had sometimes found it difficult to travel within Abu Dhabi island, such as when going to the Corniche, she said.
The study also highlights that the city’s suburbs are spread out and have low-density housing.
Public transport is more suited to serving high-density areas because larger numbers of people live near stops and stations.
The density could be increased, Mr Kyriazis said, by “acupuncture urbanism”, in which development takes place at particular points which become transport hubs.
“One can organise the neighbourhood around [these],” he said. “Once you attract more people, you have to make sure those people, where they live, have more facilities and amenities to enjoy.”
This is related, he said, to the concept of the 15-minute city, in which residents can reach almost everything they need for day-to-day living, including work, schools, health care and shops, within 15 minutes’ travel by foot, bicycle or public transport.
If there is more public transport provision to these areas, along with shops at street level, density can be increased, perhaps by building a couple of storeys higher, Mr Kyriazis said. Public spaces can be added.
Higher-density areas of Abu Dhabi have alleyways or sikkas within neighbourhoods that are often “disregarded as public space or streets”.
“But they can become something that is fundamental to how people move around their own neighbourhoods,” Ms Gomes said.
Many areas around sikkas are used well by residents as outdoor spaces, with armchairs and sofas placed outside where people can relax in the evenings.
The report notes that “good connectivity” can be found in four denser areas of the city: Reem Island, Al Zahiyah, Shabiya and Al Reef.
“This is partially due to the permeability of the sikka system and to shorter distances between traffic lights that provide U-turns or left turns,” the report said.
Abu Dhabi has plenty of parking, the report notes, and the road network is able to cope with the number of users, thanks in part to the growth forecasts used when planning took place.
The report also highlights how Abu Dhabi has invested significantly in pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, with more than 300km of cycle paths developed in the past decade.
These newer cycle and footpaths are geared towards leisure and promoting healthy lifestyles. The study called for similar provision for cyclists who commute to work. It was important that cycle and footpaths connected areas that people needed to travel between, Ms Gomes said.
“If you are not connecting … the pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure to points of interest, people will not use it,” she said.
There has been, Mr Kyriazis said, a great deal of regeneration in central Abu Dhabi, including new “urban furniture” that allows people to walk then rest and get protection from the sun. He hopes to see more of this.
The city could also be made more pedestrian-friendly by increasing the number of crossing points such as bridges or underpasses for major roads in the central business district, Ms Gomes said.
Dedicated lanes could improve public transport provision, particularly by bus, but a metro like the one in Dubai could be a game-changer, she added.
Dubai Metro, which opened in 2009, has helped the city increase the proportion of journeys taken by public transport to 15 per cent.
Riyadh is set to open a metro this year, Bahrain is developing a system and Damman, Jeddah, Kuwait City and Muscat intend to do the same.
A metro in Abu Dhabi, with stations easily accessible by foot, would have a significant positive effect, the report said.
“If you use the car all the time, you’re isolated from urban life. If you use the metro, you’ll be more connected with people, more engaged with the city,” Ms Gomes said.
“It’s definitely something that Abu Dhabi needs. Not only Abu Dhabi, but most cities I know in the Middle East need good investment in proper public transport that is reliable, that is frequent.”
There are examples of urban areas in the Gulf that Abu Dhabi and other cities in the region can look to for inspiration as they develop.
Mr Kyriazis highlighted Dubai Marina, with its metro and tram links, and pedestrianisation in the waterside area. The old town of Muscat and Msheireb in Doha, which has been regenerated, are other good examples.
“I really hope we take those examples and we use them in a constructive way,” he said.
Once you attract more people, you have to make sure those people have more facilities and amenities to enjoy APOSTOLOS KYRIAZIS
Abu Dhabi University