Understanding the Impact of Socio-cultural, Built Environment, and Policy Factors on Walkability in Bahrain: The Case Study of Hidd City

Abstract

The car-oriented planning ideas have spread through many regions of the world, leading to a drop in walking rates and other non-motorised transportation and consequently damaging the quality of public spaces and degrading street life. In the case of Bahrain, the discovery of oil ushered in a period of rapid economic, social, and physical transformation that contributed to the change of the society's lifestyle and urban growth. Following the considerable increase in oil revenues in the first half of the 20th century, the government increased spending on urban expansions and constructed roads favouring car movement while giving limited attention to pedestrians. The country's economic growth offered leisure to its citizens and generated job vacancies that attracted foreign workers with their own cultures and values, which influenced society's social structure. Being ranked as the seventh densest country in the world, today, Bahrain confronts mobility challenges due to the continuous growth of population, high dependency on cars, and the absence of appropriate planning regulations. The growing car-centric infrastructure has resulted in a dense network of highways that reshaped the island's compact urban fabric, leading to a deterioration in the quality of open spaces and the use of streets, thus making the investigation of the importance of walkability a significant issue to study. Therefore, this research examines the relationship between the socio-cultural aspects, the physical characteristics and qualities, and the role of the designers and local authorities in affecting walkability in open spaces in Bahrain, a relationship that has not been previously explored in the region. This research has adopted a qualitative approach based on a case study strategy to investigate two old and new neighbourhoods in Hidd. The data from the site observations, archival research, and interviews were gathered, evaluated, and analysed to achieve reliable results and answer the research questions. The socio-cultural findings revealed how the presence of migrants, privacy problems, socio economic status and lack of social activities had caused a decline in the use of streets by the Bahrainis. The physical findings showed that most neighbourhoods lack sidewalks, connectivity, accessibility, safety, climate, green open spaces, and community facilities and services had increased the reliance on automobiles for transportation. The policy findings disclosed that there is limited consideration for walkability within the built environment sectors in Bahrain. Management challenges, coordination problems, and limited financial resources have played a significant role in the widespread car culture and ignorance of the pedestrian realm. The results revealed that people are generally reluctant to walk most of the time; however, comparing the two cases, the compactness of street layout, the diversity of users and social activities in the old district make walking more meanable than in the new district. Nevertheless, significant social and physical improvements should be considered by policymakers to sustain street life and enhance the walking experience in open spaces by emphasising designs that are culturally responsive to the users' needs and retaining user-friendly built environments for walking.