Dissertation_Dr Faisal Almubarak

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the adherence of the population to the established rules of the distribution of a national
resource, that is oil, under the monarchy. The wide, elegant, landscaped, paved
boulevards lined with high-rise apartment and office buildings, modern villas and mansions
expressed the union of the nascent middle class values with authoritarian planning. The
suburbanization of the Saudi city owes its impetus and character to the government's
generous programs of modernization, especially the historic REDF. In light of the housing
crisis of the 1970s (and given the Saudi political and economic exigencies) the emergence
of the Saudi residential suburb can be perceived more as a solution to the substandard,
ramshackle mud communities, a government-led effort rather than solely a middle class
driven process.
Table 6.4
Increase in population, area and number of housing units, Riyadh city,
1935-1986
YEAR 1919 1935 1950 1960 1968 1986
Population 19,000 36,000 84,000 181,000 300,000 1.5 mill
Area (km 2 ) 0.5* 0.5* 4.3 16 40 495
No. of
Houses
- 4,836 12,297 29,143 51,160 349,605
Sources: Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, High Commission for the Development of Arriyadh. 1987. Land Use
Survey: Summary Report, p. 23; Faris, Adeeb. 1982. Ar Riyadh: Wathbat Izdihar fee Assahra'a alArabiyh.
(Arabic). * Area of walled town, Report on The Urban Domain For Madinat Arriyadh, (1989) 24.
D. Urban Renewal in the Historical Core
Due to rapid urbanization and development, the traditional core's structure and
circulation network was gradually replaced with a modern urban form suited for the car,
increasing business activity and ever expanding administrative structures. As previously
mentioned, the dramatic growth in the administration under King Abdul-Aziz and his heir,
King Saud, led to the first attempt to modernize the center during King Saud's reign in the
late 1950s. By the late 1970s, Saudi planners began to think of the historical area as an a
core of cultural value, as a "collective memory" of the political developments which led to
the rise of King Abdul-Aziz. An urban redevelopment program to restore the ailing
historical core and to boost its cultural and commercial vigor was looked upon by
government officials and planners as a long a waited step to bring the deteriorating center
into sync with the essentially modernized outer areas of the city one more time. The goal
now is to revamp the historical tissue with emphasis on local architectural heritage while