Place-making of transit towns in Qatar: The case of qatar national museum-souq waqif corridor

Abstract

Over the last two decades, Doha, the capital city of Qatar, has undergone rapid urbaniza-tion. The city has capitalized large-scale urban and infrastructural projects resulting in a loss of his-torical areas of heritage value to people. Recent construction of the Doha Metro is opening avenues for place-making of transit towns through a framework envisioned by the need to shape compact, livable and sustainable neighborhoods and to mitigate the effects of urbanization on valuable his-torical heritage sites. Due to its historic significance, the Qatar National Museum (QNM)-Souq Waqif corridor is the case study selected for exploring and defining a framework for a contextual-ized place-making transit-oriented development (TOD) model. The research design is structured by reviewing the literature about TODs and the need for place-making model in Qatar, followed by collecting visual data from municipal authorities, through site visits, and site observations. The data are then analyzed to propose a novel masterplan, rooted in key urban design components of place-making. The insights will contribute to proposals for context-driven design strategies to enhance livability of the site and to extend its application to other potential transit hubs in metropolitan Doha and in the Middle East.