IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i3p1767-d741819.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

COVID-19 Lockdown and the Impact on Mobility, Air Quality, and Utility Consumption: A Case Study from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Author

Listed:
  • Abdallah Shanableh

    (Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates
    GIS and Remote Sensing Center, Research Institute of Sciences and Engineering, University of Sharjah, Shajah 27272, United Arab Emirates)

  • Rami Al-Ruzouq

    (Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates
    GIS and Remote Sensing Center, Research Institute of Sciences and Engineering, University of Sharjah, Shajah 27272, United Arab Emirates)

  • Mohamad Ali Khalil

    (Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates)

  • Mohamed Barakat A. Gibril

    (GIS and Remote Sensing Center, Research Institute of Sciences and Engineering, University of Sharjah, Shajah 27272, United Arab Emirates
    Department of Civil Engineering and Geospatial Information Science Research Centre (GISRC), Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia)

  • Khaled Hamad

    (Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates)

  • Mohamad Alhosani

    (Division of Consultancy, Research and Innovation (CRI), Sharjah Environment Company—Bee’ah, Sharjah 20248, United Arab Emirates)

  • Mohammed Hashem Stietiya

    (Division of Consultancy, Research and Innovation (CRI), Sharjah Environment Company—Bee’ah, Sharjah 20248, United Arab Emirates)

  • Mayyada Al Bardan

    (Sharjah Electricity, Water, and Gas Authority, Sharjah 135, United Arab Emirates)

  • Saeed Al Mansoori

    (Applications Development and Analysis Section (ADAS), Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), Dubai 211833, United Arab Emirates)

  • Nezar Atalla Hammouri

    (Department of Applied Physics and Astronomy, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates
    Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Hashemite University, Zarqa 13133, Jordan)

Abstract

This study presents an analysis of the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on people’s mobility trends, air quality, and utility consumption in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Records of lockdown and subsequent easing measures, infection and vaccination rates, community mobility reports, remotely sensed and ground-based air quality data, and utility (electricity, water, and gas) consumption data were collected and analyzed in the study. The mobility trends reflected the stringency of the lockdown measures, increasing in the residential sector but decreasing in all other sectors. The data showed significant improvement in air quality corresponding to the lockdown measures in 2020 followed by gradual deterioration as the lockdown measures were eased. Electricity and water consumption increased in the residential sector during the lockdown; however, overall utility consumption did not show significant changes. The changes in mobility were correlated with the relevant air quality parameters, such as NO 2 , which in turn was highly correlated to O 3 . The study provides data and analysis to support future planning and response efforts in Sharjah. Furthermore, the methodology used in the study can be applied to assess the impacts of COVID-19 or similar events on people’s mobility, air quality and utility consumption at other geographical locations.

Suggested Citation

  • Abdallah Shanableh & Rami Al-Ruzouq & Mohamad Ali Khalil & Mohamed Barakat A. Gibril & Khaled Hamad & Mohamad Alhosani & Mohammed Hashem Stietiya & Mayyada Al Bardan & Saeed Al Mansoori & Nezar Atalla, 2022. "COVID-19 Lockdown and the Impact on Mobility, Air Quality, and Utility Consumption: A Case Study from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-24, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:3:p:1767-:d:741819
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/3/1767/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/3/1767/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko, 2021. "Successful Government Responses to the Pandemic: Contextualizing National and Urban Responses to the COVID-19 Outbreak in East and West," International Journal of E-Planning Research (IJEPR), IGI Global, vol. 10(2), pages 1-17, April.
    2. Kadir Diler Alemdar & Ömer Kaya & Antonino Canale & Muhammed Yasin Çodur & Tiziana Campisi, 2021. "Evaluation of Air Quality Index by Spatial Analysis Depending on Vehicle Traffic during the COVID-19 Outbreak in Turkey," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-15, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cerqueira, Pedro André & Pereira da Silva, Patrícia, 2023. "Assessment of the impact of COVID-19 lockdown measures on electricity consumption – Evidence from Portugal and Spain," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Moon-Hyun Kim & Jiwon Lee & Hee-Jin Oh & Tsolmon Bayarsaikhan & Tae-Hyoung Tommy Gim, 2023. "A modeling study of the effect of social distancing policies on the early spread of coronavirus disease 2019: a case of South Korea," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 71(1), pages 225-242, August.
    2. Seng Boon Lim & Jalaluddin Abdul Malek & Md Farabi Yussoff Md Yussoff & Tan Yigitcanlar, 2021. "Understanding and Acceptance of Smart City Policies: Practitioners’ Perspectives on the Malaysian Smart City Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-31, August.
    3. Lei Jiang & Yujia Huang & Haonan Cheng & Ting Zhang & Lei Huang, 2021. "Emergency Response and Risk Communication Effects of Local Media during COVID-19 Pandemic in China: A Study Based on a Social Media Network," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-16, October.
    4. Gabriela Ochoa-Covarrubias & Carlos González-Figueredo & Hugo DeAlba-Martínez & Alejandro L. Grindlay, 2021. "Air Quality and Active Transportation Modes: A Spatiotemporal Concurrence Analysis in Guadalajara, Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-15, December.
    5. Jorge Bañuelos-Gimeno & Natalia Sobrino & Rosa María Arce-Ruiz, 2023. "Effects of Mobility Restrictions on Air Pollution in the Madrid Region during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Post-Pandemic Periods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-23, August.
    6. Hadas Shadar, 2021. "Crisis, Urban Fabrics, and the Public Interest: The Israeli Experience," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 139-149.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:3:p:1767-:d:741819. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.