Urbanization & Planning in Doha

Doha, Qatar, is a booming city located on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Wealth from oil exports has fueled rapid urban expansion over the past few decades, as seen in the image on the right. Recently, the government has begun to plan a transition away from oil-based growth toward an economy based on services and tourism. A portion of this strategy is the institution of a Qatari Economic Zone in the southeast sector of the city. Beyond the Zone, the government has also begun to examine the nature of growth citywide and to plan for future expansion.

The suburban fringe in Doha, Qatar, as seen in a high-resolution satellite image.

The Urban Group at Stanford has assembled moderate- and high-resolution remotely sensed imagery for the entire metropolitan area. Currently, we are classifying the imagery into a detailed land use time series providing a snapshot of the city's spatial expansion. In the future, this information may be used in the construction of statistical models of the drivers behind the urbanization process. Such an effort would then allow for the simulation of Doha's future expansion and for the planning of the city's land use pattern and infrastructural investments.