Author(s)

HALA AL KHRISHI, KANZI DAHMAN, CHARLES JONES

Abstract

The April 2024 storm was one of the heaviest rainfall events in the United Arab Emirates’ recent history, with some areas receiving more than the country’s typical annual rainfall of between 100 and 150 mm. The catastrophic storm exposed failures in the country’s streetscape’s stormwater infrastructure, inundating entire urban areas across the country with rainwater. One of those areas was the Qasba Canal in Sharjah, UAE, a cultural hub where half is dedicated to pedestrian activity and the other to vehicular use. Developed as part of an upper-year undergraduate architecture studio at the College of Architecture, Art and Design in the American University of Sharjah, this project reimagines a streetscape segment and canal edge as a space centred around stormwater management and increased pedestrian programming.

Keywords

architecture, landscape urbanism, stormwater management, sustainable streetscapes