The City of Buenos Aires has a radial street plan, regular blocks, and a clear central place. On the basis of an analysis of the city's GIS database, we show that measures describing the syntax of its street network have a significant relationship with commercial frontage density, over and above the impact of central business district attraction. These results are obtained while controlling for the effects of population and employment density, distance from public transportation stations, and zoning. Our findings support a hypothesis that emerges from recent literature, namely, that commercial uses are subject to the distributed attraction exercised by the street network, and according to the syntax of street network connectivity. Among the variables describing the street network, those that measure how direct the connection of a street segment is to the rest of the street network, have the greatest explanatory power on the distribution of commercial frontage density. Street width and the extent to which a street segment lies on the shortest routes between all pairs of potential origins and destinations (whether by metric distance or by direction changes), have less influence. Interactions between variables indicate that the effects of spatial syntax in determining the distribution of commercial frontage density by street segment are stronger when variables accounting for other attractors (population and employment density, proximity to metrostations or proximity to other shops in the surrounding area) assume higher values.

Superblocks are a common urban development strategy used in cities of the United Arab Emirates and the larger Gulf region. In planning new neighborhoods, these cities utilize superblocks structured using various street network designs. Despite their key role in shaping its main transportation network, the connectivity of these designs has not been frequently studied. This paper addresses this research gap, analyzing ten different superblock designs, and focusing on their internal and external connectivity properties. Internal connectivity is studied by measuring connections between plots in the superblocks. External connectivity is measured from plots to the superblocks’ corners, the points from which to access surrounding areas. Connectivity is measured in terms of distance, directness, and route diversity. The results show that strong similarities exist across the studied designs, particularly in terms of travel distances. Differences are found in terms of efficiency and, most notably, route diversity. Findings are discussed in relation to walkability, the costs associated to each design given network length variations, and the importance of creating rich and diverse street systems that support open-ended exploration. While based on a sample of ideal cases and in need of validation with built cases, this paper outlines a method by which to evaluate and compare superblock network design alternatives.

This paper uses quantitative methods to evaluate the application of street connectivity policies stated by Abu Dhabi’s Urban Planning Council (UPC) on newly developed projects. The evaluation of the study was performed by measuring efficiency, i.e., how short and direct are paths between residential and nonresidential destinations to understand the ability of street networks to support sustainable transportation modes in the Capital District project. Efficiency is measured in twelve neighborhoods of the Capital District using Pedestrian Route Directness (PRD), a metric that meets Estidama—Abu Dhabi Green Rating System—walkability standards. Observation and analysis of the current stage of development show that more than 58% of the neighborhoods failed the route efficiency test to connect residential plots to one another. In addition, more than 40% of the neighborhood’s residential plots could not efficiently connect to nonresidential plots. The study includes recommendations for policymakers and project developers to enhance the street infrastructure to correlate with Estidama ratings by taking advantage of sikkak, the alleyways system that is found in other neighborhoods in the city. Significantly, recommendations are based on rigorous quantitative analyses that can be used for implementation in real-world projects, thus strengthening the connection between policy and practice.

The city of Al Ain (Abu Dhabi, UAE) has a mainly low rise residential buildings. Villas as part of a compound or separate units represent the majority of the residential areas in the city. Due to the harsh hot arid climate of Al Ain, the energy demand for the cooling load is quite high. Therefore, it is relevant finding new retrofit strategies that are efficient in reducing the cooling load of the villas. The aim of this study is to analyze one particular strategy (parametric shading structure) in terms of design, construction, cost, energy impact on the selected villa. The main data for this study is taken from the local sources. There are six steps followed in this analysis: case study analysis; climate analysis; parametric structure and PV panels; building energy consumption and outdoor thermal comfort; modelling, simulation, and validation; materials, construction, and cost evaluation. The model of the villa was validated for the full year 2020 based on the electricity bills obtained. After adding the parametric design structure, the reduction after shading is approximately 10%. Meanwhile the UTCI (Universal Thermal Climate Index) dropped from extreme heat stress to strong heat stress (average for the month of March and September). These findings are promising in the retrofit industry due to the advanced calculations used to optimize the parametric design structure.