UPL 602 | Computer Application in Planning

Fall 2022

Project: Walkability and Micro-Mobility Analysis around

Dubai Metro Stations

Presented by:
Khadeeja Mulani – g00094422
Sania Shanavaz - g00095704
Index:

Project Abstract ___________________________________________Page 3

Project Objectives and Methodology ______________________________Page 4

Process Documentation ______________________________________Page 5

Conclusion ______________________________________________Page 19

Appendix _______________________________________________Page 20

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Project Abstract:
Design and planning organizations have been promoting concepts of walkability and micro-
mobility to be incorporated in designs and new communities built around the world. While the
20th century has seen a rapid growth in the automobile industry, this has heavily ‘infested’ our
current lifestyle. We travel by car far more than what is necessary. Dubai being a developed
country, has provided its residents with high quality lifestyle and infrastructure. The urban design
of Dubai has been highly influenced by Transit Oriented Development (TOD) when it comes to
infrastructure and network planning. Dubai has long road networks that connect different
emirates, and these networks have a high population count around them. The introduction of
the Dubai Metro has to a large extent eased out traveling around Dubai for its residents. As
climate plays an important role in the construction industry in the UAE, people have become
more comfortable using cars, taxis and air conditioned modes of transport. For a country that is
only moving forward, it is very important that we design for people and their wellbeing and
promote a healthier lifestyle through Design. The city has not only been expanding vertically
around these transit stations, but also been expanding horizontally. As planners, there is a need
to find a balance between the uses of these infrastructures and promote walkability in Dubai.
This project aims to find locations around the Dubai Metro stations where concepts of walkability
and micro – mobility can be implemented to promote a healthier lifestyle for its residents.

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Project Objectives and Methodology

As urban planners, the objectives of the study were to:

 Study about walkability or micro-mobility in an urban context

 Check possibility to use micro-mobility as a tool to connect various active modes of

transportation.

 Identify the connectivity between Metro stations and Bus stops which are in walkable
distance.

 Possibility of connecting residential/ commercial units around the bus stop & metro
stations by micro-mobility.

Present times have allowed us to use software that help us to perform operations that allow us
to see site suitability, data analysis, visualization of the data and create maps. ARCGIS Pro is such
tool that has been used in the study of this project.

For the analysis of walkability and micro – mobility in Dubai, the following datasets were studied.

1. UAE states
2. Dubai metro stations
3. Dubai land-use
4. Dubai buildings
5. Dubai roads
6. Dubai bus stops

The target by the end of the analysis were to identify regions which can be transformed to
walkable neighborhoods around Dubai metro stations, identify roads that are micro-mobility
compatible with metro stations & bus stations as a multi-nuclei development and to
identifying bus stations which are lying in the buffer area from the metro stations which
make them walkable (400 m) or Micro-mobile (2414m) thus promoting TOD.

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Process Documentation

The following data was considered in order to study the feasibility of implementing walkable
zones and micro – mobility around Dubai metro stations.

Fig. 1: UAE states Fig. 2: Dubai Land – Use data

Fig. 3: UAE buildings data Fig. 4: UAE roads network data

Fig. 5: UAE bus routes data Fig. 6: Dubai metro stations

Fig. 7: Dubai bus stops data

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 a) In order to study Dubai specifically, Dubai state was extracted from the UAE states map.

Fig. 8: Highlighted area is Dubai state

This was performed by selecting Dubai from the attributes table of the UAE State layer and
making a new layer of the selection.

Fig. 9: Making new layer of Dubai from the selected attribute ‘Dubay’.

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 b) Before any operations were performed, all data layer were converted from Geographic
coordinate system to Projected coordinate system specific to the country zone, i.e. WGS
1984 UTM Zone 40N

Fig. 10: Conversion of layers to Projected Coordinate System using ‘Project’ under Projections
and transformations Data Management tools Toolboxes

c) To be specific to the study of Dubai, all data layers were extracted to data relevant to
Dubai. This was performed by intersecting the new Dubai layer with each layer
separately.
Figure 11 shows Dubai data being extracted from UAE land-use layer by intersect
function on ARCGIS Pro. After performing the intersect function, each of the layers only
have data subjective to Dubai.

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Fig. 11: Using intersect function on ARCGIS Pro

Once the data collected was refined as per our area of study, it was necessary to analyze the
areas around the metro stations of Dubai and link it with the bus stops in order to study the
closeness of these services. As per research, 400 m radius is an ideal distance around any bus
stop or metro station for a person to be able to walk to it and 2414 meters radium is an ideal
distance if micro – mobility has to be implemented in any area.

Buffers can be used to select features in another feature class, or they can be combined with
other features using an overlay tool, to find parts of features that fall in the buffer areas. Idea is
to extract the bus stops which are walkable or micro-mobile from the metro/tram stations.

d) For this, the buffer tool was used around the metro stations with 400 m for walkability
and 2414 m for micro – mobility.

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 Walkability

Micro - Mobility

Fig. 12: Creating buffer zones around metro stations

e) All bus stops that lie in these buffer zones were then merged with the metro station
points using the ‘Intersect’ function on ARCGIS Pro. This can also be performed using the
‘merge’ function.

Fig. 13: Over lay of UAE bus stops over created buffers

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Fig. 14: Intersecting Dubai Metro stations and Dubai bus stops only lying in the buffer zones.

The next step was to see which metro stations lye in areas that are highly dense, has most
number of buildings and have bare land where landscapes can be developed in order to create
an environment that promotes walkability to people. Subsequently, in order to create micro –
mobility, it was important that bus stations are close by to each other as well as metro stations
so that they are accessible to people.

Euclidean distance is a spatial analyst tool in ARCGIS Pro that calculates for each cell the
Euclidean distance to the closest source point. Walkability is always guided by shortest route
than network distance. Hence Euclidian distance is ideal to be calculated before reclassification
based on distance.

f) Calculate Euclidian distance to find the bus stops that are close to each other with in the
walkable buffer and the micro – mobility buffer.

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 Walkability

Micro - Mobility
Fig. 15: Calculating Euclidean distance between metro stations
and bus stops within the buffer zones

g) Once the Euclidean distance is calculated, it is necessary to reclassify the attributes based
on how we want the inter-link between the metro station and bus stops to be.

Fig. 16: Rasterizing Dubai population layer

For this, first we rasterized the virtual population data of Dubai, the land-use of Dubai and the
Euclidean distances that were calculated for walkable zones and micro – mobility.

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Fig. 17: Reclassifying land use based on the preference of areas where walkable zones and
micro – mobility should work around metro stations.
The below Likert scale was used to reclassify the attributes of the land – use data.

Out of the 8 classes, built area was given the highest suitability, followed by bare land.

Once all the data layers were reclassified, each attribute that contributes to finding the suitability
of the zones was calculated using the ‘Weighted Sum’ function on ARCGIS Pro.

Weighted sum calculates the most ideal location for development based on factors affected by
multiple raster depending on the weightage that we give for each raster. The output raster is
reclassified as per Likert scale before creating a Map. This was done separately for walkable
zones analysis and for micro – mobility analysis.

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Fig. 18: Weighted sum operation on ARCGIS Pro
The walkable distance to the metro station was given the highest weightage of 50%; land-use
was given 30%; Population around the metro stations was given 20%

Below is the result generated by ARCGIS Pro with relation to the walkable zones analysis.

Fig. 19: Walkability analysis for Dubai Metro Stations

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Fig. 20: Micro – climate suitability analysis for Dubai Metro stations

Picking one area to zoom in and study the walkability and micro mobility in the area, we picked
Dubai Marina and Port Saeed.

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Fig. 21: Walkable zones suitability analysis map for Dubai Marina created on ARCGIS Pro

Figure 21 shows that around the metro stations and trams, the red area is where we can develop
walkable zones, based on bare land available and the population of the area. As we move farther
away from this zone, implementing any urban design will not contribute to the purpose of the
design.

The same function (weighted sum) was carried to see the suitability analysis for creating micro
– climate zones around Dubai metro stations.

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Fig. 22: Micro Mobility suitability analysis map for Dubai Marina created on ARCGIS Pro

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Fig. 23: Walkable zones suitability analysis map for Port Saeed Area created on ARCGIS Pro

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Fig. 24: Micro Mobility suitability analysis map for Port Saeed created on ARCGIS Pro

Fig: 25: Closer look at weighted sum analysis for micro – mobility for an area
What can be concluded from figure 25 is that the software has helped us select areas that have
higher population and buildings where the concept of micro - mobility can work. Barren land has
been shown in a lighter color, meaning these areas are less suitable.

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Conclusion:

After conducting the analysis on ARCGIS Pro, we were successful in achieving the objectives of
the study. Using the tool has not only provided quick solutions, but helped develop the objectives
to a research level of analysis. Some of the advantages of using GIS in urban planning are listed
below.

 Overlaying existing land development on land suitability maps is a good way to compare
real world features with the proposed map and identify any conflict.

 Delivering precise and cleverly computed analysis was made easier by the collection of
tools at hand through GIS

 Spatial as well as Statistical Analysis is made easy with GIS as it has access to other tabular
databases or surveys helping us to make effective planning decisions.

The following conclusions have been drawn after the study:

 Not all areas around Dubai metro stations are suitable for implementing micro-mobility
zones

 The possibility of infrastructural modifications are influenced by Critical factors such as

the land use pattern around these metro stations, population density around these
stations (within the buffer zone) and land availability.

 It is financially not feasible near some metro stations to convert to landscape zones
where people walk.

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Appendix

Fig. a: Selecting Dubai state from UAE state attribute table and creating new layer from the
selection

Fig. b: Reclassifying Dubai Built Area raster layer

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Fig. c: Converting Dubai Landuse based on Dubai Population data

Fig. d: Reclassifying Dubai population data where high population count has highest value in
suitability analysis

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Fig. e: Using merge function to intersect metro station data points with bus station data points

Fig. f: Output of Euclidean distance function

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Fig. g: Reclassifying Euclidean distance for micro – mobility analysis

Fig. h: Reclassified Euclidean distance for micro – mobility analysis

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Fig. i: Reclassification of Euclidean distance for micro – mobility analysis

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