Abstract
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has witnessed fast growth in urban development in the past four decades. A plan to build 7270 houses by 2021 has been initiated by the local authorities. Different local sustainability guidelines are being implemented, including the Public Realm Manual in Abu Dhabi. These local guidelines are tailored to consider the hot and arid climate of the UAE as well as the applied materials, the inclusion of greenery, shading devices, etc. Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Al Ain are cities that have imposed the application of such guidelines. Additionally, the newly developed housing programs match the governmental plan. To understand the effect of these design programs on the outdoor thermal comfort (OTC), further investigations are necessary for each city. The most widely built prototype is detached villas, which result in untreated waste areas without shading or greenery. In the old local neighborhoods, Arabic houses were built next to each other to maximize the shading and to ease pedestrians’ walkability. This study aims to examine the districts where the housing programs are applied and to determine the most effective strategy to minimize the outdoor air temperatures and enhance walkability. The methodology implements the following processes in order: district analyses of the buildings as well as the externally applied materials, microclimate site measurements, ENVI-met (main software used) models of the current and future scenarios, results and recommendations. The strategies have different impacts in both cites due to the microclimate and other conditions.
Highlights
Since the formation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 1971, a huge jump in economic and urbanization growth has been witnessed
Many environmental issues have been recorded due to the rapid development, unsustainable lifestyle, low energy prices, and extreme climatic conditions, which have led to the UAE having one of the highest carbon footprints and the highest energy consumption per capita in the world [1,2]
The residential building sector forms the dominant part of the construction industry and has a significant energy consumption and share of carbon emissions [4,5]
Summary
Since the formation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 1971, a huge jump in economic and urbanization growth has been witnessed. The residential building sector forms the dominant part of the construction industry and has a significant energy consumption and share of carbon emissions [4,5]. It consumes about 30% of the total electricity in the UAE, making it the second-highest energy consumer [6]. Another study showed that around 37% of the total annual electricity of a two-story residential building in Al Ain city, UAE, is consumed by the cooling system and is estimated to be 186 kWh/m2. Al Ain is located in the border with Oman and the air is relatively dry during summer and winter [10]
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