Since the 1950s, the cities of Saudi Arabia witnessed significant changes in the composition of the population and the arrangement of the built environment. The Saudi society has transformed from a nomadic pastoral society to a highly modernized one as a result of the increase in national revenues from oil production. Rapid growth and improved economic conditions led to the adoption of modern planning principles which are in contrary to the traditional city. Although modernization had contributed to raising the living standard of the neighbourhood, it led to the creation of social, cultural and climate problems as well.
This essay will shed light on the impact of the contemporary urban planning principles and the setback regulations implemented in Riyadh, focusing on the cultural, social and climate conflict in the city. The essay is divided into five main parts. The first part gives a general background of Saudi Arabia and Riyadh. Secondly, a description of the harmonious relationship between the society and the built environment in the traditional Islamic city, which provided social and climate requirements and reflected the Islamic identity of the inhabitants. An analysis of the characteristics of the new built environment compared with the traditional form will be given in the third part. The fourth part will explain the cultural, social and climate conflicts in Riyadh as result of the adoption of the gridiron pattern and villa type as model of the city's neighbourhoods. Finally, the essay shows that the professionals and the authorities of Saudi Arabia have noted the cultural conflict arising from the implementation of the contemporary regulations and planning pattern, and give an examples of a developed scheme provide...
... middle of paper ...
...on of planning & urban theory from the perspective of vernacular design: MOMRA initiatives in improving Saudi Arabian neighbourhoods." Land Use Policy 18(2): 179-190.
Eben Saleh, M. (2002). "The transformation of residential neighborhood: the emergence of new urbanism in Saudi Arabian culture." Building and Environment 37(5): 515-529.
Greenshields, T. H. (1980). "Quarters and Ethnicity." Middle Eastern cities: 120.
Mortada, H. (2003). Traditional Islamic principles of built environment, Routledge.
Moustapha, A., F. Costa, et al. (1985). "Urban development in Saudi Arabia:: Building and subdivision codes." Cities 2(2): 140-148.
Mubarak, F. (2004). "Urban growth boundary policy and residential suburbanization: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia." Habitat International 28(4): 567-591.
Mubarak, F. (2007). Cultural adaptation to housing needs: a case study, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
According to Lehrer, U., & Wieditz, T. (2009), Toronto saw a massive population growth in a period of thirty years due to the extensive construction of high-rise condominium towers which led to the city being divided into three distinct cities: “city of the rich, the shrinking city of middle-income households, and the growing city of concentrated poverty.” According to the article the division is caused by the development of condominiums as the new form of gentrification which displaces the poor people and focuses to attract the higher-income people to the area.
The major demographic changes in the Middle East and North Africa have been the massive increase in population, and urbanization which has seen the emergence of many large cities throughout the region. The reasons for this have been because of better health care, greater mobility of the population, economic opportunities in the cities and political changes.
She also introducing new urban building standards. This this article she talks about, the idea some people have of tearing it down and rebuilding. She also talks about ideas people have about some parts of towns. In Boston, she talks about the area of North End, and the change that it was over gone. During her second visit to this area, she discovered that it had changed. She talked to other about it, although the statistic were higher than the city, the people still saw it as a slum. They felt that they needed to tear it down in order to build something better. This leads to the conclusion that the urban planners to do understand that the people of the city need. They have ideas that were developed years ago that they are still using. These ideas do not take account what the people want. The author also introducing new ideas of a perfect city to live in and what it would look like. The idea of a garden city was introduced. This city would be built around a park. Although the new ideas sounded great they could not be put into place today. The idea of a Garden City is something that sounds nice, but it is not possible in society today. Today a city should reflect economic status, and in order to achieve this the city should be big, and convey an image of power. A city that has aspects of nature in it would not convey that image. That upkeep of a city of that kind would also be difficult. The do understand the author's point of view. The planners often times do not take into account the desires of the people. The town that I grow up in want to become more urbanized. In order to do this, they are building a large shopping center. This shopping center is located in the canyon rim. This canyon rim has been important the people for many years. We come to the area to walk, what bass jumpers, and enjoy the scenic views. This new shopping center took away this area. Many of the people
4. Hitti, Philip K.. Capital cities of Arab Islam. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1972. [Document 2]
Kotkin, Joel. “Suburban Development.” Wall Street Journal. 23 Nov. 2007. N.p. Web. 3 May. 2010.
Cultures are unique in many ways; it is irregular to see cultures that are exactly the same as another. While some may borrow parts from neighboring countries or villages, all in all, their unique differences are what make each culture significant. One of the things about the Saudi Arabia and the culture is how derived it is around history, faith, marketing, control, and how westernization affects the country. Other things that will be discussed about the country Saudi Arabia relates to what is important not only to me, but also the way we as Americans culturally identify ourselves with the women of the country.
Meanwhile, businessman Nof Al-Kelaby provides examples of making and remaking on City Road, in relation to connections and disconnections between people and places. Having arrived...
The time period during this book is set during the discovery of oil by Americans during the 1930’s and the development into the 1960’s. Since the book is divided into several volumes, we learn about the changes of both the human and natural landscape during different stages of oil influence. In the first volume we learn about Miteb al- Hathal and people like him who saw their homeland taken and destroyed by foreign people and unknown machines. The cries and disapproval this character tries to explain are overlooked and forgotten as the engineers transform a virgin landscape into an oil field. With overpowering authority and wealth from the oil money a new city emerges known as Harran. This city quickly grows with ports, roads, pipelines and even American homes. The native people of the area find the labor jobs as a source of income they never thought possible. When lifestyles started changing, they no longer had to be desert travelers. However their way of thinking also changed because they were also giving up some of their traditions and freedoms. Toward the end of the first part of the book, the people start a strike against the American oil company and set the oil field on fire. The indigenous population is initiall...
The Saudi Arabia is a country with a huge culture and with many traditions. The culture is mostly influenced by their religion that is Islam. An example is that the women there is not allowed to drive a car, they can only got delivered by a family member or a driver. This Law is being used because of the holy Mekka Al-mukara...
Verde, T. (2012, may). saudiaramcoworld. Retrieved from the point of the arch (This article appeared on pages 34-43 of the print edition of Saudi Aramco World): http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201203/the.point.of.the.arch.htm
This report draws from many publications written over the last twenty years exposing the unique situation in Saudi Arabia, while also utilizing recent headl...
Beall, Joe. Basudeb, Khasnobis. Kanbur, Ravi. Urbanization and Development: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Oxford University Press, 2010.
New Urbanism, a burgeoning genre of architecture and city planning, is a movement that has come about only in the past decade. This movement is a response to the proliferation of conventional suburban development (CSD), the most popular form of suburban expansion that has taken place since World War II. Wrote Robert Steuteville, "Lacking a town center or pedestrian scale, CSD spreads out to consume large areas of countryside even as population grows relatively slowly. Automobile use per capita has soared, because a motor vehicle is required for nearly all human transportation"1. New Urbanism, therefore, represents the converse of this planning ideology. It stresses traditional planning, including multi-purpose zoning, accessible public space, narrow street grids for easy pedestrian usage and better placement of community buildings. Only a few hundred American communities are utilizing this method of planning, but the impact is quickly growing in an infant field dominated by a few influential architects and engineers.
Comprehensive urban planning needs to be sustainable, economic and consider the prevalence of historical buildings within the scope of the design plans. When community leaders and planners convene to discuss and review designs for refurbishing a neighborhood all aspects of potential new construction and how it will fit into existing buildings. Ghasemzadeh states “A good urban planner and/or designer will know the principles to adhere to and steps to take to maintain or improve the conditions of an urban area through effective planning and desi...
...quite some time. Indeed a hundred years from now, nations, for example, Egypt, Italy, and France will at present hold their customary architectural charm regardless will be worth going by, paying little mind to which drive wins. All around a large portion of the Arab standard, architects, and the overall population, appear to a huge degree to withdraw themselves from the architectural models of their neighborhood legacy, which they perceive as old fashioned, mediocre, and less equipped to adapt to cutting edge necessities, and rather float positively towards Western ideas (Hummon, 1986, pg 35). It is essential