Making religious buildings more accessible: The case of mosques in Abu Dhabi’s and Dubai’s neighborhoods
More than a house of worship, religious buildings have a critical and authoritative role in the social and political life of people. Yet, such places of divine and spirit have received limited attention in transportation and urban planning research. This research evaluates accessibility to one kind...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Minnesota
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Transport and Land Use |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.jtlu.org/index.php/jtlu/article/view/2277 |
| _version_ | 1797796901819514880 |
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| author | Khaled Alawadi Nour Alkhaja Mariam Alazab Alhadhrami Sara Omar Mustafa |
| author_facet | Khaled Alawadi Nour Alkhaja Mariam Alazab Alhadhrami Sara Omar Mustafa |
| author_sort | Khaled Alawadi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | More than a house of worship, religious buildings have a critical and authoritative role in the social and political life of people. Yet, such places of divine and spirit have received limited attention in transportation and urban planning research. This research evaluates accessibility to one kind of religious institution: mosques. The article studies the ease of access to mosques at walkable distances of 400 m and 800 m radii in twelve selected neighborhoods in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Analysis uses the gravity metric under two network scenarios: streets only, and the combined network of streets and alleys. Gravity values demonstrate three types of accessibility to mosques: plots without access, plots with minimum access to one mosque, and plots with choice access to more than one mosque. Findings show neighborhoods have experienced an erratic decrease in accessibility to mosques. In both cities, percentages of plots with an overall accessibility to mosques, (sum of both minimum and choice), were higher in the pre- and-early-suburban phases. With the inclusion of alleyways, the overall accessibility percentages increased in many cases. The study reveals that good pedestrian accessibility results from an effective interplay between street design, plot densities, network intersection density, strategic placement of alleys, and mosques’ ratio and spatial distribution.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T03:41:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f7211dd09d2a4a639786375765661d77 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1938-7849 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T03:41:04Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | University of Minnesota |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Transport and Land Use |
| spelling | doaj.art-f7211dd09d2a4a639786375765661d772023-06-23T08:58:49ZengUniversity of MinnesotaJournal of Transport and Land Use1938-78492023-06-0116110.5198/jtlu.2023.2277Making religious buildings more accessible: The case of mosques in Abu Dhabi’s and Dubai’s neighborhoodsKhaled Alawadi0Nour Alkhaja1Mariam Alazab Alhadhrami2Sara Omar Mustafa3Khalifa UniversityKhalifa University Khalifa University Khalifa University More than a house of worship, religious buildings have a critical and authoritative role in the social and political life of people. Yet, such places of divine and spirit have received limited attention in transportation and urban planning research. This research evaluates accessibility to one kind of religious institution: mosques. The article studies the ease of access to mosques at walkable distances of 400 m and 800 m radii in twelve selected neighborhoods in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Analysis uses the gravity metric under two network scenarios: streets only, and the combined network of streets and alleys. Gravity values demonstrate three types of accessibility to mosques: plots without access, plots with minimum access to one mosque, and plots with choice access to more than one mosque. Findings show neighborhoods have experienced an erratic decrease in accessibility to mosques. In both cities, percentages of plots with an overall accessibility to mosques, (sum of both minimum and choice), were higher in the pre- and-early-suburban phases. With the inclusion of alleyways, the overall accessibility percentages increased in many cases. The study reveals that good pedestrian accessibility results from an effective interplay between street design, plot densities, network intersection density, strategic placement of alleys, and mosques’ ratio and spatial distribution. https://www.jtlu.org/index.php/jtlu/article/view/2277Accessibilityurban formneighborhoodurban network analysismosques |
| spellingShingle | Khaled Alawadi Nour Alkhaja Mariam Alazab Alhadhrami Sara Omar Mustafa Making religious buildings more accessible: The case of mosques in Abu Dhabi’s and Dubai’s neighborhoods Journal of Transport and Land Use Accessibility urban form neighborhood urban network analysis mosques |
| title | Making religious buildings more accessible: The case of mosques in Abu Dhabi’s and Dubai’s neighborhoods |
| title_full | Making religious buildings more accessible: The case of mosques in Abu Dhabi’s and Dubai’s neighborhoods |
| title_fullStr | Making religious buildings more accessible: The case of mosques in Abu Dhabi’s and Dubai’s neighborhoods |
| title_full_unstemmed | Making religious buildings more accessible: The case of mosques in Abu Dhabi’s and Dubai’s neighborhoods |
| title_short | Making religious buildings more accessible: The case of mosques in Abu Dhabi’s and Dubai’s neighborhoods |
| title_sort | making religious buildings more accessible the case of mosques in abu dhabi s and dubai s neighborhoods |
| topic | Accessibility urban form neighborhood urban network analysis mosques |
| url | https://www.jtlu.org/index.php/jtlu/article/view/2277 |
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