About
17
Publications
3,994
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
18
Citations
Introduction
Skills and Expertise
Publications
Publications (17)
The book traces urbanisation patterns in Oman looking at the coastal strip of Muscat Capital Area. This metropolitan region emerged within the last 50 years almost out of nowhere and is now home of the majority of the national and expatriate population of Oman.
Urbanisation, and the socio-political, economic and environmental aspects attached to...
Project Rationale Introduction During the past four decades Oman has been facing high population growth. In combination with considerable rural to urban migration Urbanization rate in the country has reached in 2010 84 % according to Oman Census 2010. Urbanization patterns are characterized by dispersed and patchy settlement structures not only in...
Urban Expansion Urbanization in Oman is an ongoing process that accelerated since 1970. Urbanization has two faces: rapidly growing and expanding urban areas on one side and rural areas, steadily transforming and creating a new rural-urban interface on the other. Urban expansion Based on the 1990 strategy developed by Weidleplan and implemented by...
Fanja- from compact to patchy settlements OR Fanja- a typical rural-urban interface in Oman Fanja – located along the highway to Nizwa, in 70 km distance to Muscat. About 30.000 inhabitants in 2012; Fanja represents one of the typical top-hill compact settlement formed by mud brick houses, stacked together with narrow streets. Fanja was connected b...
DRIVING FORCE: Families and life style patterns The individual resident and his/her family plays probably the most passive and conservative role within the whole process of urban development. The individualization of families on their walled-in plots is seen as the best way to assure the highly estimated privacy. People are reluctant when it comes...
DRIVING FORCE: Housing Policy Housing policy has been redefined in 1991 within the Muscat Area Housing Study carried out based on comprehensive surveys. A main goal of the Omani Government is to allow all Omani citizens to build their own house. Thus land is granted to them forming part of a public welfare system of the Sultanate. Housing Banks hav...
Rural urban interface Showcase: rural urban interface: A particular Rural-urban interface is going to be created in the Sultanate that show new inter-linkages between urban and rural areas, in particular between Muscat Capital Area and the adjacent well connected rural hinterland. New type of flows/exchange between ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ areas can be...
Road-Network Since the land allocation by lottery provides similar 600m2 plots, the self-standing villa is the predominant dwelling type in expanding urban areas. Self-standing villas can be seen throughout the city. The plots are arranged back to back in rows forming clusters of six to 20 units. The clusters form neighborhoods of various sizes acr...
DRIVING FORCE: dynamic population growth Natural population growth and migration have contributed to the fact that “....the total population of the Sultanate has redoubled nearly six times from 50’000 in 1950 to 2’775’878 in 2010.” Although the Governorates of Muscat and Batinah represent merely 5.3% of the total area of the Sultanate, they accommo...
Dynamic of growth Rapid economic development and population growth Before the discovery of oil and gas in Oman (end of 1960s) the country relied on fishery, agriculture, animal husbandry, handicraft, and trade. Oman was a rural society, socially organized in tribes and family clans, living in villages and hamlets, mostly oasis settlements. After 19...
Prof. Dr. Sonja Nebel (Gutech) Principle Investigator Focus: urban development and management Dr. Sonja Nebel graduated from RWTH Aachen / Germany. She earned her PhD at the same university. Sonja has been teaching for more than 25 years at different universities in Europe and in Arab Countries in the field of urban design, urban planning and urban...
Case-study Al Khoudh Al Khoud (phase 6) covers an area for about 2000 new residential and commercial plots. The area started to be developed in 2007 and thus allows a continuous observation of ongoing processes of urban growth and expansion, characteristic to Muscat Capital Area. Map of Greater Muscat Area The site was planned in the early 2000s by...
Building Types The Villa Settlement patterns in the expansion areas are based on the unit of self-standing buildings or villas. These buildings are constructed on the typical 20m x 30m plots governed by set-back rules. The building occupies the center part of the 600m2 plot. A perimeter wall surrounds the plot. The space in between villa and walls...
HOUSE TYPES IN RURAL-TO- URBAN AREAS URBAN AREAS House types in the rural areas studied in Fanja have undergone different changes during the phases of transformation. The process of transformation of housing types in Fanja for instance can be traced in phases A-D. The initial type of traditional mud-building has been analyzed in detail in studies o...
Manifesto for sustainable urbanization in Oman Economic sustainability …is understood as the capacity and ability of a practice to be able to put local/regional resources to productive use for the long-term benefit of the community, without damaging or depleting the natural resource base on which it depends and without increasing the city’s ecologi...
The Pearl River Delta (PRD) in South China Is not only an economic 'powerhouse' of the global economy. As a region with more than 50 million inhabitants, the Delta shows urbanization patterns that transcend conventional standards and definitions of a city: fragments of rural settlements mix with urban high rise buildings, rural areas are interspers...
