Public Space and User's Comfort, Health and Well-Being: A Study of Improving Spatial Qualities of Public Open Space (POS) in City of Doha, Qatar

Abstract

Sustainable Urban Development (SUD) directives significantly concentrate on treating factors that affect human comfort, health and well-being. Research has shown that Public Open Spaces (POS) are a valued and necessary component of urban city design (Habitat, 2014). Well-designed and well-functioning POS provide a variety of social, economic, environmental, physical and psychological advantages for populations, and thus play a substantial role in improving the quality of city life and contributing to liveability. Cities in many countries are experiencing fast changes in their urban environments, demographic growth and economic development. This rapid growth has increased the effect of urbanization. This, in turn, has led to emergence problems related to the urban design qualities of POS. Most POS are rather uncomfortable because they were not designed to adapt to different environmental conditions. This has resulted in several issues related to the fact that such POS often discourage social interactions and intensify pollution. The study was carried out in the city of Doha, a region of Qatar that experienced such POS issues due to its uncontrolled and rapid urbanization. Ultimately, this thesis aims to develop a set of design guidelines for sustainable POS