World Tour Station: Dubai, UAE
Channel: ENVI-met GmbH
Date: 2022-09-16

As the world turned to Dubai for the World Expo 2020, it becomes important to highlight the lessons the city has to offer for developments in extreme hot climates. Several characteristics of Dubai make it an ideal case study, like the contrast between different parts of the city in terms of urban density and building heights. The extreme weather contrasts between day and night in outdoor public spaces underline the importance of passive design measures such as shading, landscape and water features in providing outdoor thermal comfort. 

Another major factor for choosing Dubai was that the city provides the opportunity to understand the significant change in conditions one could experience even within short walking distances. The study analyses therefore the current conditions and proposes a set of passive design interventions to improve the environmental performance of outdoor open spaces. 

The first part of the study compares and investigates the differences between the urban fabric of what could be considered as old and new Dubai. The differences in looseness or tightness of the urban fabric, the ability of the buildings to protect or shade each other and the public spaces in between. As in the new parts of Dubai iconic buildings are built, the old part of Dubai, Deira, once the commercial centre of the city, continues to function with an equally high footfall. The research investigates therefore the differences in the built density and its impact on the pedestrian comfort conditions.