Where the station stands decides the walk

Comparison study · Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore · measured 5 November 2026

The question

How much does a district's density tell you about how easily its people reach public transport, and how much shade its streets get?

The place and the method

Five city centres, each a 1.5 km circle (7.07 km²): Downtown Dubai (Burj Khalifa), Dubai Marina, Deira, downtown Abu Dhabi and Singapore's Central Business District (Raffles Place). Built and measured in OSMosis the same way on 5 November 2026, from the current open map data; walks follow the streets and paths, door to door.

What was measured

	Downtown Dubai	Dubai Marina	Deira	Abu Dhabi downtown	Singapore CBD
Gross floor area ratio (whole circle)	2.82	2.39	2.25	2.41	2.52
Walking junctions per km²	192	184	341	261	236
Floor area within an 800 m walk of a metro or tram station	21%	78%	70%	bus-based	>99%
Floor area within a 400 m walk of any public transport stop	58%	45%	77%	94%	>99%
Dedicated cycle track or lane, as mapped	0.09 km	0.00 km	0.65 km	2.33 km	1.12 km
Shared walk-and-cycle paths, as mapped	9.6 km	29.5 km	2.0 km	5.9 km	38.6 km
Streets in building shade at 12:30 solar time, 21 June	10%	9%	2%	4%	29%
Streets in building shade at 15:30 solar time, 21 June	40%	47%	32%	44%	48%
Green space, share of the circle	5.7%	3.5%	1.8%	10.6%	21.3%

What it shows

Density alone does not decide access. Downtown Dubai has the highest gross floor area ratio of the five (2.82) and Deira the lowest (2.25), yet 70% of Deira's floor area is within an 800 m walk of a metro or tram station against 21% in Downtown Dubai.

Where the station stands decides the walk. In Dubai Marina, metro and tram stations run through the district and 78% of the floor area is within an 800 m walk; Downtown Dubai's station stands at its edge, on Sheikh Zayed Road. In Singapore's centre the figure is over 99%. Downtown Abu Dhabi's public transport is bus-based: its stops put 94% of the floor area within a 400 m walk.

Cycling runs on shared paths. As mapped, dedicated cycle track or lane is short in every Gulf centre; most of the paths open to cycling are shared walk-and-cycle paths, 29.5 km of them in Dubai Marina.

Midday shade has to be built. At 12:30 solar time on 21 June, buildings shade 2% to 10% of the streets in the Gulf centres and 29% in Singapore, whose June sun stands lower (about 68° above the horizon at solar noon, against 88° in Dubai). In the Gulf, midday shade must come from trees, canopies and covered walkways.

What it means for planning

Read station access district by district: a city-wide share can hide a district where the station sits at the edge.
Count walks on the real streets, door to door: a circle of the same size drawn on a map reaches more than people can walk.
Plan shade for the hours people walk: building shade at noon is small everywhere in the Gulf, and grows quickly in the afternoon.

Limits

Gross figures over each circle, streets and water included; a circle centred elsewhere would read differently.
As mapped in open data, which is more complete in some places than others: the share of floor area resting on recorded heights or floor counts was 72%, 73%, 28%, 64% and 91% in the order of the table; the rest is estimated.
Shade is building shade only, in solar time; trees and canopies add to it on site. Residents are not compared, because each city's resident estimate follows its own rule.

Questions

Which Dubai district has the best metro access on foot?

Of the three Dubai centres measured on 5 November 2026, Dubai Marina had the most floor area within an 800 m walk of a metro or tram station (78%), then Deira (70%) and Downtown Dubai (21%), walked along the streets.

How much shade do Gulf city streets get at midday?

On 21 June at 12:30 solar time, buildings shaded 2% to 10% of the streets in Downtown Dubai, Dubai Marina, Deira and downtown Abu Dhabi, against 29% in Singapore's CBD.

The same readings can be made for any place in OSMosis: see how.