Dissertation_Dr Faisal Almubarak

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HI. PLANNING THE 'CITY OF FUTURE': THE INTRODUCTION OF CITY MASTER
PLANS AND EFFECTIVE URBAN POLICIES IN THE 1970S AND 1980S
The impact of preemptive government decision-making and underwriting of urban
development was shown best during the 1970s and the 1980s. The 1970s brought an
unprecedented world demand for oil. Oil output virtually doubled between 1970 and 1973.
Oil prices rose sharply, doubling in the same three years from $1.80 in 1970 to $5.12 in
October 1973, to a whooping $11.65 in January 1974. Accordingly, oil revenues rose
from $1.26 billion in 1970, to $3,107 billion in 1973, leaped to $22,574 billion by 1974,
and jumped to a phenomenal $98.1 billion in 1982. 39 The improvements in the national oil
economy was translated into construction boom that swept Riyadh, in particular and the
Saudi cities, towns and villages, in general (Table 6.1).
Table 6.1 illustrates the dramatic increase in construction activity in Riyadh compared
to the total number of permits issued by municipal authorities in the Kingdom. According
to the census of 1974, Riyadh had a population of 666,000 inhabitants, approximately 10
percent of the nation's population estimated at 7 million. 40 . Especially during the early
1970s, Riyadh's share of construction permits was considerably high compared to the
number of permits issued by municipalities nationwide. In 1974, the year in which an
official population census was compiled and also the year which followed the phenomenal
increase in world oil prices, Riyadh was the first among the nation's settlements to benefit
from the oil bounties, evident in the 30 percent share of the total numbers of construction
permits nationwide.
A. Urban Economy: Government Growth and Industrialization
Riyadh's growth continued unabated, corroborating the preponderance of the state
input in the development of the national urban system. In the decade ending 1977, the
city's population more than doubled reaching 690,000 inhabitants. Between 1968 and
1977, rapid population growth closely paralleled economic growth. The total number of
jobs rose from 75,000 to 180,000 during the same period, while the broad structure of
economic activity remained similar to that of the 1960s. The tertiary sector (government,
trade and commerce) accounted for 76 percent of this composition- 33% was government,
commercial activities and other services 28%, transport 8%, and utilities 1.5%. In 1977,
the government sector employed 60,000 persons, while commerce and construction