**5. Discussion**

This study aimed to assess and optimize sustainability on the urban scale by selecting and evaluating one of Dubai's communities. The study investigated the potential of enhancing the case study neighborhood towards sustainability according to the sustainability rating system standards. The selected case study community was evaluated, and the likely weakness was indicated in the livability aspects covering land-use diversity, accessibility, transportation system, green and landscape area, and energy efficiency. Moreover, assessing the community showed a capability of enhancing the thermal performance, in addition to the community livability.

Different scenarios were applied in order to improve the community's sustainability on two levels; livability and thermal performance (Figure 13). The adopted scenarios targeted improving the livability by enhancing (1) walkability, (2) accessibility, (3) facilities, and (4) land use diversity [5,13,17]. The thermal performance has been enhanced by increasing the (1) shading effect (2) and improving greenery and landscape areas [34,39]. However, applying the suggested scenarios resulted in improving the community sustainability and resulted in upgrading the community rating level by increasing the number of points that can be achieved by applying LEED (ND) standards [43]. The community gained an additional 14 points, and resulted to be certified as a sustainable community. The study proved the capability of enhancing the sustainability level of the communities by implementing sustainable design strategies at the urban level. Improving the community performance will result in a positive impact on the total environmental performance [34,39,43].
