Abstract
The impact of extreme weather conditions on the number of visitors in the outdoor urban marketplace is considered one of the most crucial issues of rapid growth and urbanization.
This research aims to investigate and evaluate the impact of this issue on different urban marketplaces configurations. The study's methodology will focus on examining the number of visitors to markets in Dubai city during the summer and winter seasons.
Six marketplaces were selected based on their various density ratios, cultural importance, and type of market. The market types varied from outdoor-shaded, outdoor none-shaded, specialized markets and malls representing commercial settlements in Dubai, UAE.
Observation methods were conducted to count the number of visitors in the six different urban marketplaces, which are: Grand Souq Dubai Deira (Outdoor-shaded), Grand Souq Dubai Deira (Outdoor- none shaded), Grand Souq Dubai Bur (Outdoor-shaded), Grand Souq Dubai Bur (Outdoor- none shaded) as these areas represent the traditional urban market form. At the same time, the Dubai Gold Souk area represents the specialized urban market.
Also, the Mardif city centre mall represents the modern market form in Dubai. The study investigated the impact of weather conditions in Summer and winter during weekdays and weekends (August and January).
The results revealed a variety in pedestrian behaviour during summer and winter, especially in the number of visitors between outdoor markets and the mall. The density of pedestrians increases during winter in outdoor non-shaded marketplaces and decreases during summer in outdoor markets. Furthermore, the specialized market shows consistency in the density of visitors and in both seasons, while the mall’s density of visitors shows dominance over the other marketplaces.
These changes highlight the different responses of visitors to weather conditions.
Nevertheless, the data shows different pedestrians' behaviour, creating various trends determined by the type of market and weather conditions.
The research recommends and encourages further analysis and studies of this issue by introducing the use of microclimate simulations, the use of digital cameras and advanced approaches to add more depth to this issue and understand its dimensions.