Dissertation_Dr Faisal Almubarak

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Yanbu occupies public land of 80 square kilometers. Yanbu, which boasted a population
of 20,000 in 1977, is projected to be inhabited by a population of 150,000 upon
completion in the year 2010. The population is expected to engage mainly in the industrial
complex designed to use cheap energy made available by the construction of a 725-mile,
trans-peninsular pipeline bringing crude oil and natural gas from the Eastern Province. The
preliminary construction cost for both towns, paid for by the government, is $7.7 billion of
the running estimated cost of $12 billion(1983 estimates). The construction stage, starting
1977, required the importation of a large workforce. At the peak of the construction
activity in 1982, the number of foreign laborers involved in the construction of the new city
exceeded 30,000 workers. The cost includes infrastructure and public services, the
industrial plants, and ports as well as 33,000 housing units. 59
The master plans of the two industrial complexes were rationalized to attain maximum
functioning of the towns' urban economy, that is industry. The two industrial complexes
were organized around the exploitation of the rich natural reserves of hydrocarbon and
mineral resources featuring world-scale primary industries, capital and energy-intensive
manufacturing products to participate in the growing world markets. They are also
designed to allow for private sector input primarily in the secondary industries and the
support of light manufacturing industries. 60
The Saudi model industrial towns experiment represents a milestone in the history of
urban and regional planning in Saudi Arabia, with calculated emphasis on economic
efficiency in tune with national economic goals confessed in the Five-Year plans. It reflects
the Saudi government's need to reap greater benefits out of its natural resources in a time of
high world demand. Structurally, the decision to create the new towns reflects drastic
changes underlying urban growth and form; in the traditional built environment the urban
form was essentially governed by local imperatives, while in the modem, policy decisions
are made by the national government and geared toward international market exigencies.
The modern settlements function within a national urban network, they are physical
embodiment of the new nation-state system. Urban forms have transformed accordingly.
VII. ANALYSIS & EVALUATION
In the classical definition of the profession, urban planning has been basically
concerned with the location, character, intensity and land needed for the various urban