Assessment of Walkways Urban Design Along the Banks of Flood Control Canals in Jeddah

Jeddah, a Saudi Arabian costal city, is usually exposed to a very low precipitation rate. However, the city underwent unexpected floodings in 2009, 2010, and 2011 due to heavy rain. These floodings caused human loss, which lead the government to execute several measures to drain surface water in order to protect inhabitants. These measures included flood control canals, which are excavated uncovered surface canals going through the urban fabric of the city, expanding all the way to the Red Sea. These canals are dry most of the year. However, due to their significant lengths and locations, flood canals usually get used for walking. Therefore, walkways have developed along the sides of few flood control canals in Jeddah. These long walkways are serving the people’s need for a more walkable city, but they still lack appropriate physical urban elements, which is resulting in an inconvenience for users to linger their use. A lot of public spaces in Jeddah were extensively studied in previous researches, but there are limited studies about the ones particular to flood canals. Therefore, this research aims to establish an evaluation of their conditions and develop an understanding of how they can be enhanced while still serving their drainage function. This would be achieved through an observation of two cases in Jeddah, Al-Safa walkway and Al-Nakheel walkway. The observation shall be carried out to evaluate existing physical dimensions and explore how activities included are satisfying the users’ needs functionally and socially. After the observation is carried out, a comparative analysis shall be conducted to identify potentials and gaps. The results are expected to end with a framework suggestion to turn Jeddah’s flood defense into a good urban practice by deducing guidelines that further help in enhancing the use of spaces created on flood canal walkways, and better satisfy the users’ needs.