Macro- and micro-scale modeling of multi-modal transportation spatial networks in the city-state of Doha, Qatar

Researchers and practitioners have been modeling vehicular networks across metropolitan and geographical regions, even on a national scale, using configurational analysis or space syntax since the late 1990s and early 2000s. These models range in scale including, but is not limited to, the island of Great Britain (land area of ~209,000 km2), national boundaries of England (~130,000 km2), over half of metric area for the Combined Statistical Area of Metropolitan Chicago (~10,900 km2), and Chatham County, Georgia (~1,640 km2) in the USA (Hanson, 2009; Turner, 2009; Major, 2018; Major, 2020). & In 2018, researchers in the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning (DAUP), College of Engineering (CENG) at Qatar University (QU) constructed a space syntax model of Metropolitan Doha covering a land area of 650 km2, encompassing over 24,000 streets and approximately eighty-five percent (~85%) of the total population (~2.8 million) in the State of Qatar. In a short time, this model has led to a deeper understanding about spatial structure at the metropolitan, neighborhood, and marketplace (souqs or souks in Arabic) level in Doha, especially compared to other cities of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region as well as elsewhere in the world (Major et al, 2019; Tannous, 2019; Tannous & Major, 2020). This paper presents the results of expanding this space syntax of Metropolitan Doha to include multi-modal aspects of the Qatari environment at various geographical scales. The expanded model includes: micro-scale pedestrian-only spatial networks in Souq Waqif and Souq Wakra; metropolitan-scale representation of the newly opened Doha Metro network; and, all settlements and area in outlying regions such as Al Ruwais/Fuwayriţ in the far north, Al Khor and the Industrial City of Ras Laffan in the northeast, and Durkan/Zekreet in the west to encompass the entire land area of the State of Qatar. As a peninsular nation in Arabia, lying on the Arabian/Persian Gulf with only a single border to another country to the southwest (closed by Saudi Arabia due to current blockade for political reasons), the State of Qatar is ideal for this large-scale and detailed type of modeling using space syntax modeling.