Technobiophilic urban acupuncture: Urban voids as green blue spaces to mitigate physical-mental health effects of urban stressors in Abu Dhabi

Abstract

With more than half of the world's population already living in urban areas, designers and policymakers must remember that health, well-being, and urban happiness are vital in building cities for people. However, as cities expand and the world's population urbanizes, urbanization strains the environment, public health, social engagement, and space availability. Urbanization also results in a slew of urban stressors that negatively impact residents' physical and mental health in high densely populated cities, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research highlights urban stressors related to Abu Dhabi's arid climate, the COVID-1 9's mental health impacts, and the severity of depression and anxiety brought by the limited social engagement and isolation during the pandemic. The urbanization and the fast-paced development of Abu Dhabi, fueled by its economic growth, are generating urban voids that are unused, underutilized or abandoned. The concept behind the thesis demonstrates how urban voids can be used to catalyze social involvement while being physically active outdoors and how this can result in either short-term or long-term use within the confines of the current dense urban structure. The experiences generated by activating and enabling interventions in urban voids will increase the overall quality of life in a place while creating a sense of belonging to a group or community. This will help alleviate the effects of the different urban stressors on the urban dwellers' physical-mental health, especially during the COV1D-1 9 pandemic. The research affirms that the effects of urban stressors can be addressed with a walkable, active, restorative, inclusive, and wider network of public urban Green Blue Spaces (GBS). An examination of the Abu Dhabi parks service area analysis reveals that some parts of the community are covered by parks, while others need more (DMT, 2018). This study will support filling the gaps in the availability of accessible green blue spaces in Abu Dhabi. The study also identified and examined urban voids found in Abu Dhabi's downtown superblocks as potential opportunities to provide accessible GBS as ecotherapy spaces and social magnets by applying human scale TechnoBiophilic Urban Acupuncture (TBUA). Furthermore, as a transformation framework for these challenging spaces, various intervention strategies are demonstrated in the proposed Eco-Social Pods: A TechnoBiophilic Urban Acupuncture Toolkit. The toolkit aims to develop a human-scale initiative in activating urban voids that will lead to policies and strategies at the city level. The GIS mapping process revealed a total of 81 vacant plots or urban voids in the three Districts Al Danah (50), Al Zahiya (24), and Al Hosn (7). All of them are located inside Abu Dhabi's densely populated areas. The GIS mapping exercise found a considerable gap in accessible open spaces at the central portion of the Al Danah district and the eastern half of the Al Zahiya district. Hence, the research is significant for filling the city's existing gaps of accessible open space. A survey was conducted to understand the pattern of GBS engagement of the respondents, and the result shows that 58% stay longer for 2 hours and more in the GBS, which is good since spending at least 120 minutes or 2 hrs per week in nature is correlated with good health and well¬being. However, the fear of possible exposure to COVID-19 is one of the top reasons (73%) why some stopped visiting and using the GBS during the pandemic. This number is still high considering that there are fewer restrictions with access to GBS compared to when the pandemic started in March 2020. Mental health benefits (82%) were seen as the main effect of the GBS to the respondents, followed by physical health (13%), being one with nature (3%), and social connection (2%). Based on the questionnaire results, it was found that the prevalence of depression was 69%, and the prevalence of anxiety was 67%. The majority of respondents who were in a depressed and anxious state were mild to moderately severe. The PHQ-9 results revealed that 4 (13%) of the 31 respondents with a view of nature were in a state of depression, while 59 (86%) of the 69 respondents with no view of nature exhibited depressive symptoms. The GAD-7 results revealed that 7 (23%) of the 31 respondents with a view of nature were in a state of anxiety, while 60 (87%) of the 69 respondents with no view of nature had anxiety. This survey shows the significant impact of having nature views, exposure to GBS, especially during the pandemic on the survey respondents, with the severity of depression from mild to moderately severe. An indicator that should not be taken for granted, and mitigation measures should be considered. Urban voids are considered valuable spaces that can help with the city's growth, and they have great opportunities for different interventions to help improve the quality of life of its residents. Claiming and activating these urban voids as pinpricks of changes opposes current city planning practices of redeveloping everything on a large scale, which usually requires significant investments in time and funding. Activating these areas with small-scale and human scale interventions engages the city at the intimate scale of the person, focusing on the potential of ordinary spaces within our built environment and creating social capital in return. Human-scale interventions do not need significant financial investments, especially when they are carried out with the participation of local communities and individuals. The willingness to go beyond the usual regulatory procedures in Abu Dhabi and to maintain an open mind to potential possibilities is what is required for change. The research advocates for TechnoBiophilic Urban Acupuncture to play a synergistic role and should not be seen as a substitute for existing large and formal green spaces. The TBUA should complement the existing green spaces and add more accessible options and connections in bringing nature back into cities. The study explores the various significance of activating urban voids as GBS to become an ecotherapy space and a social magnet, which can help alleviate the existing physical-mental health effects on Abu Dhabi residents caused by urban stressors related to health and limited social engagement, particularly during the pandemic. A comprehensive mapping to identify other urban voids and interstitial spaces that are existing but underused throughout the city is necessary. Policies that support urban voids activation to revitalize these unused and underutilized spaces in the community should be realized while allowing community-led initiatives to activate vacant plots. GBS plays a vital role in our physical and mental health, both now and in the future, so we must all change how we use and maintain them to keep everyone in our cities healthy. An annual large-scale survey of how the population, cities, and socioeconomic classes access and use blue and green spaces in Abu Dhabi could help policymakers navigate ongoing COV1D-19 challenges and other future pandemics. A policy on green prescribing should be set as a recovery strategy from the effects of the COV1D-19 pandemic. Allowing healthcare professionals to green prescribe as part of a holistic mode of health and social care, which also includes policies to have more natural environments and accessible GBS. Green prescribing includes leisure physical activities in public open GBS, walking and cycling in nature, horticulture and urban gardening therapy, meditation and relaxation, and activities outdoors that encourage social connections while adhering to set health protocols. As a strategy to activate and revitalize the various unused and underutilized urban voids found in Abu Dhabi. The researcher proposes to develop a toolkit called Eco-Social Pods: A TechnoBiophilic Urban Acupuncture Toolkit. The TBUA Toolkit encourages adaptable public uses for temporary vacant spaces, emphasizing the need for social interactions in dense urban areas. The TBUA Toolkit emphasizes space like a magnet for social engagement, bringing people together to make them aware of their city's urban fabric and engaging them culturally, physically, and environmentally. The human-scale and modular designs proposed in this thesis serve as a framework for further research, and the design proposal is deliberately limited to a conceptual idea. However, the hope is that the concepts and implementations of this study's TBUA design methods will be scaled up to create a network of green blue spaces to fill the gaps around the built environment and serve the city level. As the network of these small interventions grows, these can provide decision-makers with a sustainable way of addressing immediate urban development and can be done incrementally. To develop programs and strategies that acknowledge the different realities and sensitivities of the local urban and social fabrics now and in the future plans for the city.