Developing a spatial decision support system for sustainable built environments in Abu Dhabi

 The research aims at developing a set of sustainability indicators for the challenging Abu Dhabi built environment and examine the possible use of GIS. The research has illustrated the real potential of the sustainability indicators for managing built environment sustainability performance and provides a clear perspective on how the proposed indicators can be used to develop a DSS to assess and improve Abu Dhabi’s sustainability

Sustainability ranking of desalination plants using Mamdani Fuzzy Logic Inference Systems

As water desalination continues to expand globally, desalination plants are continually under pressure to meet the requirements of sustainable development. However, the majority of desalination sustainability research has focused on new desalination projects, with limited research on sustainability performance of existing desalination plants. This is particularly important while considering countries with limited resources for freshwater such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as it is heavily reliant on existing desalination infrastructure. In this regard, the current research deals with the sustainability analysis of desalination processes using a generic sustainability ranking framework based on Mamdani Fuzzy Logic Inference Systems. The fuzzy-based models were validated using data from two typical desalination plants in the UAE. The promising results obtained from the fuzzy ranking framework suggest this more in-depth sustainability analysis should be beneficial due to its flexibility and adaptability in meeting the requirements of desalination sustainability

Public bus transport service satisfaction: Understanding its value to urban passengers towards improved uptake

To accurately direct investments towards sustainable transit, current transport status and factors driving passengers towards private cars instead of public transport (PT) should be identified first. Past research advocated improvements in PT to shift mode-usage but has yet to model the different causal effects that direct bus users to cars in rapidly developing yet congested areas. On-board questionnaire survey data from intra-city Abu Dhabi bus passengers (n = 1520, variables = 31) over a month were gathered in this study during both weekends and weekdays. The study modelled existing bias of travellers and quality attributes as antecedents of bus service's perceived value for money (VfM) and satisfaction from level of service (LoS) and mode choice (car vs. bus) as the ultimate consequence. Findings revealed that any previous biased opinions of travellers adversely affected satisfaction and perceived value, while quality attributes had a positive effect. Mode use was influenced by satisfaction from LoS (frequency of buses and network coverage), which was a positive consequence of perceived VfM (quality of ride and level of fare trade-off). Journey time and bus-stop waiting area quality also positively influenced satisfaction from fare level while passenger sociodemographic distribution showed that most respondents travelled more than five times a week by bus and were full-time workers and transport agencies may target service improvements around office-hours

Critical success factors model for spatial data infrastructure implementation in Abu Dhabi Emirate

In 2007, Abu Dhabi Emirate launched its Spatial Data Infrastructure Program (AD-SDI). Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi declared a vision for the Emirate to establish one of the best SDI in the world. The main drawback was to answer the question of how to measure AD-SDI effectiveness in achieving Abu Dhabi’s vision on the SDI. A conceptual framework is developed using combination of qualitative and quantitative methods and being applied in four stages. First stage deals with review of theory and framework development based on the extensive literature review. Second stage explores selected case studies of the world’s best SDI practices in United States, Australia and Malaysia. In the following stage, outcomes from preceding stages are utilized to develop SDI survey questionnaires for Abu Dhabi geospatial community. The questionnaires have been distributed to stakeholders and users of geospatial data in government and private sectors. Finally, findings from the survey questionnaires have been used to create a suitable preliminary CSF model for the AD-SDI and to measure impact on their implementation in Abu Dhabi. The developed preliminary CSF model for the AD-SDI consists of six (6) main categories with their respective 42 success factors being identified. All 42 factors are assigned with weightage accordingly by using statistical approach to measure their degree of priority. However, after systematic integration and evaluation process, a new revised version of primary CSF model for the AD-SDI are generated with 6 main categories but the total number of success factors is reduced to 33. The adopted main categories for the primary CSF model have been developed based on the survey findings in issues mainly related to organizational matters, level of communication, data standards and socio-economy. Validation process has been carried out to evaluate effectiveness of the selected primary model in implementing AD-SDI. The new primary model is accepted by the state authority to be adopted in implementing a comprehensive and modern SDI in Abu Dhabi. The success of AD-SDI will be followed by adopting the model for the implementation of future nation-wide SDI in the United Arab Emirates