REVITALIZING THE GREAT WADI OF MUTTRAH
DEPARTMENT OF URBAN PLANNING
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN NUSRAT JAHAN | 18-0096 THE WADI KABIR PROJECT An inclusive wadi sensitive urban planning and design
BACHELOR THESIS SPRING SEMESTER 2022
AND
ABSTRACT
Wadis are an important ecological feature of many of the Middle Eastern countries. The word ‘wadi’ is an Arabic term for a valley or a waterway, most of which lasts for a short time, usually during and after a rainstorm, and varies from one season to another. This study contextualizes the study and understanding of wadi to help develop a more resilient neighbourhood in a case study of the wilayat of Muttrah and Wadi Kabir (Arabic for the Great Wadi) which runs through most of the wilayat. The wilayat of Muttrah is known for its trade and enterprise, with its port and commercial quarter. It is one of the most important of the six Wilayats in Muscat Governorate, for it was Oman’s ancient trading port, with the first aiport being constructed there, the Bait Al Falaj airport, as well as having the souq and the old Central Business District / CBD. Within the wilayat lies one of the most important wadis of Muscat, The Great wadi, or Wadi Kabir, stretching for 8 km, beginning near Al Bustan and Al Nuzhah Street and ending into the sea in the Darsait beach. Over the recent years, Oman has been expanding linearly and the Governorate of Muscat and expanding in various directions in the form of city phases, mixed use districts, logistics hub and more. Many CBDs have emerged to calibrate with the changes, leaving behind the Wilayat of Muttrah with its old CBD, commercial center and Industrial Estate.
The city has more character to it and the wadi is a defining factor which should be rejuvenated for its inhabitants and set a pattern for creating better guidelines for protecting the riparian buffer, while preserving the wadi channel for its ecological purpose. This study intends to throw light on the Urban context of the different districts interacting with the wadi, with a research on the street connectivity and access the interaction of the wadi with its respective surroundings and the gross land use of each district and elaborate on the difference spaces occupied by the different backgrounds of people. In this light, ‘The Wadi Kabir Project’ (WKP) proposes to develop urban design guidelines and methodological framework to accomplish resilient planning approach to help rejuvenate the wadi buffer and stimulate better planning and design on the neighbourhood level. This research integrates the ‘Oman National Spatial Strategy’ (ONSS) and the international ‘Wadi Sensitive Urban Design’ (WSUD) [Australia and UK] guidelines at a district and neighbourhood scale to inform a design strategy which can be used to utilize dynamic wadi landscapes to be integrated into an Urban Context.
Summary of different spatial planning tools and their objectives and strategies
Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) Australia http://observatoriaigua.uib.es/repositori/suds_australia_options.pdf
Set of guidelines intended to help the National Water Initiative (NWI) achieve their objectives to facilitate better and more efficiently manage water in Urban areas
• Design for function (maintenance, integration, usage, life span)
• Enhancing amenities (protection, preservation, infrastructure)
• Emphasis on considering all framework factors (administration, stakeholders, public)
• High priority given to Best Planning Practices [BPP] (Assessment, comprehensive analysis of Stormwater Management Techniques)
Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) UK https://www.susdrain.org/files/resources/ciria_guidance/wsud_ideas_book.pdf
Developed to provide an overview about the drivers, benefits and vision for WSUD in the UK under CIRIA
• Prioritises placemaking and productive landscape
• Connecting the watercycle (water supply, surface water runoff, wastewater, flood management)
• Takes a bottoms up approach (Water Sensitive housing > Apartment block > Neighbourhood > City)
Wadi Urbanism https://isocarp.org/app/uploads/2021/06/ISOCARP_2020_Malek_535.pdf
an explorative urban design approach that integrates (cultivated) wadis as (green) open spaces by building on their diverse eco-systemic capacities to create a public open space and aesthetic landscape.
• Proposes urban design guidelines and design strategy to integrate naturally dynamic wadi landscapes
• Creating collective identity through cultural landscapes
• Site specific design approach over generic planning
• Resilient and accommodating designing over restrictive construction
Oman National Spatial Strategy (ONSS)
https://housing.gov.om/cmsapi/files/content/information_center/Features%20of%20the%20Urban%20Strategy%202040%20.pdf
the general framework for directing urban growth over the next twenty years with a view to achieving a balance between the social, economic and environmental developments, which are spatially embodied in urban development.
• Top-down approach for spatial planning (national > regional > local)
• Targeting 57 national policies and regional policies for each governorate under the national policy framework
• Hierarchically distributing service center to achieve more balanced development and reduce internal migration
• Prioritising public transport investment in Muscat ; implementation of freight links with all modes
General Strategies
• preserving the wadi buffer • integrating the wadi into the neighbourhood
• diversifying land use
• developing street infrastructure
•
blending the developmental patterns
RESEARCH QUESTION
How can these strategies and framework tools be conceptualised and implemented to the Wadi of Muttrah to practice Wadi Sensitive Urban Design?
Ecosystem health
Site Observation and Photos
Neighbourhood interaction with the wadi Cycling lane implemented in the MBD division
Blocked access to the wadi via railings retaining wall around
Inaccessible part of wadi in Wadi Kabir residential area ; highway on the right
Start of the wadi channel in Al Nuzha Street inaccessible wadi
Wadi with a dead end on the other side tyres marks showing it is primarily used by cars
Telecommunication tower in CBD residents playing cricket in the wadi basin on a friday evening
Wadi only accessible from node/ road across it; organic ecosystem and soil erosion, creating small ponds
Wadi basin on ground level running water flowing to the Darsait beach
Natural ecosystem flourishing in the wadi
SITE ANALYSIS
Accessible area Unused accessible area Accessed by car Inaccessible area Street network
Motorway Primary Road Secondary Road Tertiary road Restricted area Wadi
Greenery Wadi Street network
Residential Commercial Mixed Use Business Industrial Governmental Wadi Street network
SUMMARY MAP WITH REVISED PROBLEM STATEMENT AND STRATEGIES
problem statement
- no route for public transport
- several under constructed roads and dirt roads
- informal scattered housing/ settlements
- lack of greenery
- neglected and damaged wadi bu er
- no public spaces or parks
- little to no commercial service buildings
- bigger highway infrastructure ; less wadi in uence/ interaction
- wadi ash ood hazard on poorly constrcuted roads across wadi - poor pedestrian inafrstructure - no parks or open spaces - poor greenery
- no adequate public tranport - no greenery - arid wadi bu er
- wadi turned into a social barrier ; urban segregation - no parks
- dominantly business typology ; abandones area after business hours
- no public trasit - little to no pedestrian inafrstructure
- wadi bu er is abondoned / neglected - poorly built roads - no greenery ; no shade
-informal building settlements
- mostly industrial - narrow street ; exposed parkings
- no interaction with wadi
- wadi as a physical barrier
- inadequate commercial service buildings
- strictly residential ; mostly quiet and empty
- inadequate neighbourhood parks to houses ratio
- homogenous housing type
- no integrated public transportation
PROBLEM STATEMENTS
STRATEGY DIAGRAM Accessible wadi area Accessible area Unused area Node 01 Node 02 Node 03 Node 04 - integrating the wadi into the neighborhood - implementing walkability concept - public | open spaces | pocket parks - preserving the wadi bu er with green intervention - Implementing green corridors concept - Street infrastucture developement - implementing walkability concept - public transportation - enhancing street connectivity - Diversifying Land Use - public | open spaces | pocket parks - integrating mixed use typology (niche services buildings) - diversifying overall housing typology - Diversifying Land Use - integrating commercial dominated mixed use typology - diversifying housing typology in residential districts - neighbourhood parks -Blending the developmental patternsimplementing walkability conceptgreen topography corridors to enhance the wadi bu erpublic transportationenhancing street connectivityintegration of residential typologyopen spaces | pocket parkspedestrian subway under the high tra c motorway -Blending the developmental patternsgreen intervention wadi perimeterdescending green corridorsneighbourhood parksimplementing walkability conceptpublic transitintegrating residential land use typologies“wadi front” waterfront -Blending the developmental patternsgreen intervention wadi perimeterdescending green corridorscommunal parksimplementing walkability conceptpublic transitpedestrian yovers on the motorwayintegrating community mixed use buildings -Blending the developmental patternsgreen intervention wadi perimeterdescending green corridorsimplementing walkability conceptunderground motorwaypublic transitintegrating community mixed use buildings existing context strategies Existing features New strategies Existing land use Land Use Integration Unaccesible area Unaccesible wadi area Unaccesible wadi area - integrating the wadi into the neighborhood - preserving the wadi bu er with green garden perimeter - Implementing green corridors concept - implementing walkability - open spaces | pocket parks - Street infrastucture developement - public transportation - enhancing street connectivity - implementing walkability - constructing better roads across the wadi to prevent ash ood hazards - Diversifying Land Use - integrating the wadi into the neighborhood - incentivizing wadi front / water front concept - preserving the bu er with green interventions - implementing green corridor concept - implementing walkability - open spaces | pocket parks - Street infrastucture developement - public transportation - enhancing street connectivity - implementing walkability - diversifying the commercial land use by overlapping the economic sectors - public spaces | pocket parks - wadi front development - residential typology on the northern part of the area - Diversifying Land Use - integrating the wadi into the neighborhood - preserving the bu er with green interventions - implementing green corridor concept - implementing walkability - open spaces - Street infrastucture developement - public transportation - enhancing street connectivity - implementing street infrastructure - implementing walkability -pedestrian yovers on motorways - integrating mixed use (communal services) + commercial estate building around the zone - communal parks - Diversifying Land Use - integrating the wadi into the neighborhood - green interventions around and beyond the wadi bu er - implementing green corridor concept - implementing walkability - public / open spaces | pocket parks - Street infrastucture developement - restructuring the motorway to move underground - public transportation - enhancing street connectivity - implementing walkability -implementing pedestrian infrastructure for movement across the wadi - integrating mixed use (communal services) + commercial estate building around the zone - neigbourhood parks - diversifying overall housing typology - Zones / Districts - Focal Areas - High tra c nodes - Motorway - Primary road - Secondary / tertiary road - Wadi basin - Residential - Commercial - Mixed Use - Business - Industrial - Governmental - Residential - Commercial - Mixed Use - Business - Wadi bu er - Green corridors - New street connections - Public Transit - Underground motorway - Road reconstruction points
