we have that
the area of the shaded region is equal to the area of 4 circles minus the area of 4 squares
so
step 1
Find the area of the four circles

we have
r=4 units
therefore
A=4(pi)(4^2)
A=64pi unit2
sttep 2
Find the area of the four squares
A=4{4^2}
A=64 unit2
step 3
the area of the shaded region is
A=(64pi-64) unit2