King Abdulaziz University Research Team Wins First Place in Prince Abdulaziz bin Ayyaf Award for City Humanization in its Second Round

A research team from the Faculty of Architecture and Planning at King Abdulaziz University, consisting of Dr. Amer Mohammed Habibullah, Dr. Nawaf Rasheed Al-Hajaj, and Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Fallatah, achieved first place (shared) in the second turn of the scientific competition for Prince Abdulaziz bin Ayyaf Award for City Humanization which was held at King Saud University in 2024.

The team earned this recognition for their scientific study, published in a prestigious international journal, titled “One-Kilometre Walking Limit during COVID-19: Evaluating Accessibility to Residential Public Open Spaces in a Major Saudi City”

The study evaluated the effectiveness of the one-kilometre walking policy implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi cities, which facilitated access to neighbourhood public parks. The study highlighted the global importance of these parks in promoting physical activity, improving public health, and enhancing mood during the pandemic.
The study concluded that walking distance policies should not be uniformly applied to all cities and residential neighbourhoods in the Kingdom during future epidemics (God forbid). Instead, determining walking distances should depend on the quality of pedestrian infrastructure and the ease of access to public residential parks to promote social sustainability and city humanization principles.