Dissertation_Dr Faisal Almubarak

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B. City Master Plans
Oil wealth has enabled the government to embark upon vigorous national and urban
planning schemes aimed at increasing the living-standards of the population by all feasible
means (higher income, better housing and hygiene, etc.) and by upgrading the built
environment for projected future economic prosperity. Though progressive, these
regulations were wrought in isolation of public input. In 1973, the Council of Ministers
adopted Riyadh Master Plan, the first formal attempt to circumscribe the City's unbridled
growth.
Table 6.3
Number of Private Establishments and Employment in Selective Saudi
Cities
City No. of No. of No. No. Of No. of No. of
Establish­ Employees Establish­ Employees Establish­ Employees
ments (1963) ments (1976) ments (1981)
(1963) (1976) (1981)
Riyadh 6,894 15,400 16,409 94,9911 30,611* 272,376
Jeddah 7,007 18,234 13,828 62,907 28,651 221,975
Makkah 6,160 14,379 8,114 22,657 12,332 43,632
Maidnah 3,030 6,489 4,247 14,097 7,906 27,851
Taif 2,609 4,520 4,805 11,902 6,735 22,005
Al-Ahsa 2,511 4,496 3,349 9,857 5,458 15,383
Dammam 1,762 4,737 4,405 32,670 6,828 96,535
Al-Khobar 1,132 3,818 1,598 15,425 3,446 55,136
Arar 265 454 477 1,803 1,245 3,319
Sources: Statistical Year Book (1965), p. 199; Statistical Year Book (1989), 643. * As of 1986, the
number of private establishments increased to 44,643; comprising 26,977 commercial (90% of which is
retail), 15,823 services, and 1,842 designated as industrial (58% were furniture-related, 16% metal products,
and 6% involved in stone, mud and glass works). Industrial establishments occupied 19 km 2 (6.5%) of the
City's area. Source: Report On Urban Domain for The City of Riyadh (1989), 7.
1. Doxiadis Plan for Riyadh, 1973
Departure from the traditional design standards of the medina culminated in the
adoption of Doxiadis' City Master Plan in 1973 by the Council of Ministries. The
approach of contracting Western consultants to produce master plans was in vogue in many
Third World and Developing countries. They were archetypical solutions to rapidly