Just an update for those who read this thread:
The sample data eventually came through ... my test of the following all worked and Abdalla verified:
For the Buffer approach:
1. Run Buffer tool with -0.2 meter buffer_distance. If you look the touching area, you should see the polygons are separated.
2. Run Near tool using the buffer output as both Input Features and Near Features. You should get the NEAR_DIST with no zeros in the buffer table.
If you use a positive buffer distance, 0.2 meters, you should get 5 polygons, each connects two touching ones.
For the Aggregate Polygons approach:
1. Run the Densify tool (Editing toolbox) to densify the polygons by 0.5 meter distance. This inserts many vertices.
2. Run the Aggregate Polygons tool (Cartography �?? Generalization) with a 1 meter or larger distance. I get 5 new polygons, each came from two touching ones, similar to what you would get using a 0.2 meter buffer.
Abdalla will try the approaches on the original data. Hope he will succeed.
