Dissertation_Dr Faisal Almubarak

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loan. The physical development of contemporary Saudi urban forms can be outlined as
follows. First, around the traditional compact form, a ring of "traditional suburban"
development took place outside the wall and abutting it. This "traditional suburban" ring
retained the very characteristics of the traditional urban processes, however, with little
modifications to allow for the introduction of the automobile, although a tendency to build
on a large scale also marked the early phase. Second, with the improving national income,
the trickle of urban migration soon became a flood as the national government diverted oil
revenues to the development of various settlements, a process which altered the spatial map
of the nation.
New communities, ah'iyaa ashsha'abiyah, sprouted, adopting new technological
improvements. The traditional mud house, comprising irregularly-shaped indoor spaces
clustered around a courtyard, was modified to the so-called "Arab" house which had larger
openings and was equipped with electrical and sanitary improvements reflecting the rising
living standards of the population. However, the development during this transitional,
intermediate phase, given the developmental stage of the government and the society, was
too frantic to permit adequate control. This phase also included the proliferation of
Bedouin camps and shanty towns. Third, by the 1950s, the villa, a freestanding and
outward-facing housing unit, was adopted by the royalty and the upper class. It
symbolized prestige and status. At the same time, another basically new form, the rental
apartment complex, began to line the major roads. The complexes had been introduced to
house the increasing expatriate population.
The 1960s witnessed the spread of the villa to the expanding middle-class, a group
which grew because of government employment and spending. The 1970s' government
subventions and suburban-oriented housing programs fueled suburbanization at an
unprecedented tempo. Finally, the suburbanization of the Saudi city reached an
unprecedented level in the 1980s when the distribution of free land allowed limited-income
groups to reach out for their share of the generous pro-sprawl housing subsidies.
Movement to the suburbs became attainable among the lower-income population. In
addition, with the increase of automobile ownership, the city's periphery became accessible
to families of modest means. By the late 1980s, the limited-income suburbs had
leapfrogged across the elegant boulevards, while the REDF-subsidized housing units
expanded beyond municipally-serviced areas. Modernized, sanitized urban forms- fancy