Dissertation_Dr Faisal Almubarak

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responsible for issuing building and small business permits, supervising the compliance of
construction and businesses to legal and other established growth standards, and also the
platting of subdivisions.
By not being responsible for the financial burden of upgrading the old town and the
provision of community services, such as potable water, garbage collection and the
construction of streets and municipal buildings, and other collectively consumed services,
residents have become the beneficiaries of these government funded projects. As long as
the municipality was willing to pick up the various civic improvement's and services
expenses, residents were expected to do nothing but appreciate and marvel at the palpable,
free services offered by the state. With its adept technical staff, the municipality has placed
itself as the chief player and space organizer in contemporary Saudi urban systems. With
local politics muted, the new imarah and the baladyyah have preempted the decisionmaking
process which traditionally was carried out by local city notables and town's amirs.
Likewise, the newly established government functions, school directory, health and police,
and other administrative agencies, along with the state's sinew and fiscal backing, have
rendered traditional influence of town's notables obsolete. Their traditional roles have been
emasculated and dwarfed by the newly established, well funded government agencies.
Stripped from their political power and status, city notables felt diffident as they could not
match the municipality's 61an and the principality's ultimate control over the everyday
affairs of the local community. In short, the municipality has become the agent for urban
change, the arm the central state could depend upon to facilitate physical transformation
(Figure 8.10).
C. "Planned" Growth: Land Subdivisions In The Traditional Town
Like almost all Saudi settlements, Huraimla's share in oil wealth was inevitable. The
inauguration of the imarah (principality), the establishment of a police power, public
education, and the establishment of the municipality (baladyyah) in 1965, were an
embodiment of the increasing role of the central state (at the local level) in the local affairs
and building practices of Huraimla. Starting with the second national five-year
development plan, the state set explicit guidelines to develop rural areas, partially to mollify
city-ward migration and attain a balanced rural-urban development. 19 The municipality is a
government institution which derives its support and instruction from the Deputy Ministry
for Municipalities and Rural Affairs at Riyadh. This meant that decisions concerning local