Dissertation_Dr Faisal Almubarak

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(1995). The second domain enveloped the first domain and identified land suitable for
development until the year 1425H (Figure 7.11). According to the UD, land laying within
the second domain would not qualify for government free services, until needed services in
the first domain were met, though exceptions abound. Unlike the master plan approach,
the UD set guidelines and criteria for development leaving to the individual municipalities
the details of everyday activities, according to the ratified royal decrees, statutes and
ministerial circulars issued at the central level.
According to the UD of 1989, the total approved area for development in Arar was
925 hectares. The UD's first domain which identifies developable land up to 1995 allowed
for an area of 6,785 hectares. The second domain sanctioned another 2,240 hectares by
2005, in addition to the approved area of 7,710 hectares in 1995. In total, Arar's UD
earmarked a total area of 9,950 hectares by 2005 as developable, urban land. 47 Table 7.3
illustrates the UD listing of existing and future projections. Table 7.3 identifies land uses
and their respective areas. Government land, public and "private", accounts for 2,134
hectares or 82 percent of Arar land uses. The residential uses account for 14 percent of the
city's area. Through its REDF, military housing and land distribution policies, the
government has been instrumental in the production of the housing units which comprise
suburban growth (80% of Arar's housing units were REDF financed). For instance, the
REDF alone has helped in the construction of 4,340 housing units totaling SRI,186.7
billion ($330 million), or an average of SR273,425 ($78,000) per unit.
As such, and especially outside the Tapline Houses, the state has set the general
goals, policies, strategies, priorities and guidelines for development, thanks to its financial
contribution. Through its master plans, the state outlined the structure and components of
the modern physical environment. Through its massive allocation in modernizing the Saudi
society and its urban systems, the government has relied on oil revenues to engage the
society in an ever increasing urban and economic development. Through the creation of
employment in the public sector and lucrative measures to establish a modern private sector
from naught, the state has orchestrated the national march toward modernization, thereby
dwarfing the market forces. By doing so, the state has envisioned the future and, through
its pro-development intervention, has preempted the course of urban development for
decades to come with a careful mix between modernization (e.g. Western planning) and
tradition (i.e. government and municipal structures conducive to the reproduction and
sustenance of the prevailing national political structure), all reflected on the contemporary