Abdullah Addas

Bio: Abdullah Addas is an academic researcher from King Abdulaziz University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Public open space & Megacity. The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 12 publications receiving 55 citations.

Remotely Sensed Derived Land Surface Temperature (LST) as a Proxy for Air Temperature and Thermal Comfort at a Small Geographical Scale

Abstract: Urban Heat Islands (UHIs) and Urban Cool Islands (UCIs) can be measured by means of in situ measurements and interpolation methods, which often require densely distributed networks of sensors and can be time-consuming, expensive and in many cases infeasible. The use of satellite data to estimate Land Surface Temperature (LST) and spectral indices such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) has emerged in the last decade as a promising technique to map Surface Urban Heat Islands (SUHIs), primarily at large geographical scales. Furthermore, thermal comfort, the subjective perception and experience of humans of micro-climates, is also an important component of UHIs. It remains unanswered whether LST can be used to predict thermal comfort. The objective of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of remotely sensed data, including a derived LST, at a small geographical scale, in the case study of King Abdulaziz University (KAU) campus (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) and four surrounding neighborhoods. We evaluate the potential use of LST estimates as proxy for air temperature (Tair) and thermal comfort. We estimate LST based on Landsat-8 measurements, Tair and other climatological parameters by means of in situ measurements and subjective thermal comfort by means of a Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) model. We find a significant correlation (r = 0.45, p < 0.001) between LST and mean Tair and the compatibility of LST and Tair as equivalent measures using Bland-Altman analysis. We evaluate several models with LST, NDVI, and Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI) as data inputs to proxy Tair and find that they achieve error rates across metrics that are two orders of magnitude below that of a comparison with LST and Tair alone. We also find that, using only remotely sensed data, including LST, NDVI, and NDBI, random forest classifiers can detect sites with “very hot” classification of thermal comfort nearly as effectively as estimates using in situ data, with one such model attaining an F1 score of 0.65. This study demonstrates the potential use of remotely sensed measurements to infer the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) and subjective thermal comfort at small geographical scales as well as the impacts of land cover and land use characteristics on UHI and UCI. Such insights are fundamental for sustainable urban planning and would contribute enormously to urban planning that considers people’s well-being and comfort.

Public Open Spaces Evaluation Using Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) in Saudi Universities: The Case of King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah

Abstract: Public open spaces (POSs) provide multiple services (such as facilities for physical activities and social interactions) to local people, and these services are important for the well-being of society and for improving the quality of life. Extensive research on POSs has been carried out in developed countries (such as the US and Australia, as well as European countries including Spain, France, and Germany). However, POSs in the Saudi Arabian context remain unexplored. This study aims to examine the importance and performance of public open spaces on King Abdulaziz University (KAU) campus, Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia, using importance-performance analysis (IPA). One-way ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis tests were performed to identify differences in the importance and performance of POSs. It was observed that there are significant differences between the importance and performance of public open spaces on the KAU campus, as perceived by stakeholders. Therefore, this study may be helpful in understanding the importance and performance of public open spaces, allowing spaces to be prioritized to improve management and restore open spaces to achieve environmental sustainability at a local scale. In addition, this study suggests that decision-makers involved in campus planning should consider the contribution of public open spaces to education, recreation, and the environment, at the campus planning stage.

The transnational Gulf City: Saudi and migrant values of public open spaces in Jeddah

Abstract: This paper outlines patterns of use, perceived benefits and place attachment relating to public open space in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a city in which almost half the residents are born overseas. The ...

The Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Air Quality—A Global Review

Abstract: The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as a serious public health threat and has had a tremendous impact on all spheres of the environment. The air quality across the world improved because of COVID-19 lockdowns. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, large numbers of studies have been carried out on the impact of lockdowns on air quality around the world, but no studies have been carried out on the systematic review on the impact of lockdowns on air quality. This study aims to systematically assess the bibliographic review on the impact of lockdowns on air quality around the globe. A total of 237 studies were identified after rigorous review, and 144 studies met the criteria for the review. The literature was surveyed from Scopus, Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, and the Google search engine. The results reveal that (i) most of the studies were carried out on Asia (about 65%), followed by Europe (18%), North America (6%), South America (5%), and Africa (3%); (ii) in the case of countries, the highest number of studies was performed on India (29%), followed by China (23%), the U.S. (5%), the UK (4%), and Italy; (iii) more than 60% of the studies included NO2 for study, followed by PM2.5 (about 50%), PM10, SO2, and CO; (iv) most of the studies were published by Science of the Total Environment (29%), followed by Aerosol and Air Quality Research (23%), Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health (9%), and Environmental Pollution (5%); (v) the studies reveal that there were significant improvements in air quality during lockdowns in comparison with previous time periods. Thus, this diversified study conducted on the impact of lockdowns on air quality will surely assist in identifying any gaps, as it outlines the insights of the current scientific research.

A Proposed Planning Concept for Public Open Space Provision in Saudi Arabia: A Study of Three Saudi Cities.

Abstract: Public open spaces (POS) have an essential positive impact on cities and their residents. These spaces play a critical role in enhancing users’ physical, mental, and social wellbeing. In addition, POS improve city resilience and economic value, and act as part of the city’s visual amenities. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is taking many approaches to enhance quality of life in all its cities through initiatives such as increasing the POS area per capita. Several studies have examined the importance of the accessibility of POS in addressing users’ needs. In this study, we measured the per capita area and accessibility of POS in the three megacities Riyadh, Dammam, and Jeddah. We also collected data on user preferences for the use of POS through semi-structured interviews, observations, and an online questionnaire. This study suggests that the country needs to establish its own POS planning approach based on users’ desires and behaviors when using POS, as well as the country’s social characteristics, and to depend not only on standard international planning approaches. The paper recommends considering the possibility of increasing POS by creating typologies of these spaces based on each city’s landscape characteristics. This proposal will have a major impact on city planning and design in Saudi Arabia. In addition, it will make the Saudi cities livable and have a positive impact on the physical, mental, and social wellbeing of the population.

LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AND LAND-USE PLANNING (Book Review)

Abstract: tained a domestic focus in her life, not only through the kind of work she chose, but in the way she worked. For example, she moved her whole operation to Cornish every summer, closing the New York office. And when she visited clients, she usually stayed with them as their guest, rather than in an hotel, thereby maintaining an illusion of social visits rather than professional consultation. Shipman’s connections to the Lowthorpe School are only briefly mentioned in the book, but that would be an interesting subject to pursue. Future scholars could take up the thread of feminist inquiry woven into this account of Shipman’s career. To argue more convincingly for Shipman’s feminism, given the scant documentation of her personal beliefs and politics, her life and work must be explained in the larger context of gender politics and social relations in her time. Women only won the vote in 1920 after prolonged struggle, and during the ensuing decades, feminists rested somewhat on their laurels, refraining from active politics. Although it would be interesting to find out if any of Shipman’s clients were radical feminists, it seems likely that Shipman’s brand of feminism was of a different sort. Her association with garden clubs offers a clue to her gender politics. Karen Blair, in The Clubwoman as Feminist (1980), argues that women’s clubs in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century represented a form of domestic feminism. They were conceived as a way for middle and upper,class women to gather together, escape from confining domesticity, and work for feminist goals, without sacrificing their identity as \"ladies\" and without upsetting their menfolk unduly. Women’s clubs developed a feminist ideology grounded in accepted gender roles and building upon women’s \"domestic\" strengths. Gardening, for example, was deemed a domestic pursuit and therefore \"natural\" for ladies. Yet in garden clubs women shared knowledge, networked, and expanded their influence well beyond the confines of their gardens. Diane Harris has pointed out that gardening literature in the early twentieth century offered \"a safe outlet for what feminist historians have called a ’woman’s culture,’ a culture that nurtured independence and power in an otherwise disenfranchised segment of the population\" (Harris, 1994, p. 113). Shipman’s feminism, if she can be called a feminist, would most likely have been a form of domestic feminism, perhaps recognized by her female clients, but unthreatening to their male counterparts. Tankard suggests that Shipman never joined the ASLA because her interests and concerns were different from those of the professional organization. But Shipman’s assistant, Frances McCormis, is quoted in the book, saying that Shipman \"didn’t approve of it [ASLA]\" and found the people \"dull\" (p. 177). Perhaps in Shipman’s social circle, a professional organization would have undermined her ladylike image. Perhaps she received better commissions by playing down the fact that she had to work for a living. Viewed in this context--of gender politics in the early twentieth century--Shipman’s work represents an independent development in landscape architecture, parallel to the ASLA and powerful in a different way. The issue of flower borders takes on new meaning.