Dissertation_Dr Faisal Almubarak

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In addition to this form of living, the tribes of the predominantly dessert areas of the
Peninsula forged a nomadic form of living which accounted for approximately half of the
Peninsula's population at the turn of this century. 18 Still the coastal lands of the Red Sea
on the west and the Persian Gulf on the east contained a population utilizing, in addition to
small scale agriculture, maritime commerce, fishing and pearl diving as their major sources
of living. The towns of Makkah, Madinah and Jeddah in the western region constituted an
exception to the prevailing agrarian and nomadic (pastoral) habitats. The advent of Islam in
the seventh century A.D. strengthened their urban status and provided them with
continuous religious activities that helped support their economies.
The promulgation of Saudi Arabia in 1932 as a new country has assured a new era of
urban experience. With the formation of the new state, the urban network began to
experience profound changes through relatively sudden integration with the increasingly
internationalized world economy, thanks to the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in
the late 1930s. The utilization of such a vital source of energy has launched the Country
into unprecedented economic importance in the world market.
The peculiarities of the Country's socio-political structure, coupled with its reliance
on a massive oil reserve, has conditioned the development of the new urban network. No
longer do agriculture, maritime trade and religious activities constitute the backbone of local
economies. The new political economic changes, represented by nationalism and oil
wealth, also resulted in abandonment of the traditional built environment to accommodate
new and growing urban functions forged by the new changes.
IV. THE STUDY
This study is aimed at deciphering the major forces that have caused the discontinuity
and the demise of the traditional forms and created the modem (industrial) forms. The
relatively short span of time that accompanied this transformation constitutes an opportunity
to understand factors underlying the new forms and some of their shortcomings.
Specifically, I am concerned with the role of the state in shaping both the production of
contemporary urban space and its form. Focused on the relationship between space
formation and state-led intervention in development- characterized by massive public
financing and centralized urban planing- the underlying assumption in this study is that in
Saudi Arabia urban development has been more susceptible to political characteristics of the