Dissertation_Dr Faisal Almubarak

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Notes to Chapter IX
1
The ability of powerful actors to influence the urban process holds, though at a different degree, in
democratic free-market economies such as the United States. In his article, "Economics and Zoning
Laws", William A. Fischel criticizes traditional economic theories for downplaying political factors in
analyzing zoning and related land use controls. He argues for a property-rights approach to zoning,
because it addresses "the motives of zoning officials realistically, "and "places zoning in its proper
sphere, local politics." Fischel argues for an "economic theory of politics" to understand zoning. He
shows how politicians, doing what they are supposed to do in a democratic society, will use zoning to
win voters support by yielding to their demands. For example, the "special-interest model" addresses
the fact that voters cannot follow closely what is going on. This leaves ample space for special
interest groups to influence officials to whom they promise campaign contributions.
2
In most cases, contemporary amirs do not necessarily belong to a noble local family in the town or
city. Especially, in regions with vital economic and political weight, a senior member of the A1 Saud
dynasty is appointed as amir.
^
It must be noted here that in addition to these tasks, local amirs exercise symbolic traditional duties
such as those of the majlis (See footnote 11, Chapter HI).
4
Virtually, all Saudi planners and bureaucrats who I interviewed during the information gathering stage
of this study acknowledged the need to search a compromising urban paradigm that blends modem
technology with traditional values. Being pragmatics, they admitted that with their ramshackle mud
communities, unproperly serviced and inaccessible to automobiles, etc., traditional centers of Saudi
settlements lost against the Westernized modern suburbs. What is lacking is a vision of how to forgo
the "enticing" reality for an unclear idealism.
5
Approximately 50% of Riyadh's population lives in 50 square kilometers, or 5% of the city's area of
1062 square kilometers. Source: High Commission for the Development of Arriyadh. Program for the
Development of the Governing Palace Area: Third Stage (Rabi Awwal, 1409/1989), 3.
6 Fahad A1 Saud (the King). "Public Speech Addressing the Saudi Students in the US, 11/23/1404H." In
Wathaek Littariekh, Mukhtarat min Kalimat wa Liqaat Jalalat al Malik Fahad bin Abdul-Aziz
[Documents for History: Selective Speeches by H.M. King Fahad Al Saud]. Riyadh: Ministry of
Information, no date of publication, not dated), 260.
7
See discussion of Islamic inheritance law under land tenure in Chapter II and, in Chapter V, under home
ownership.
8 To help relieve housing shortages and to entice employment, some government agencies and military
departments built their own housing complexes which were only distributed to their employees.
9 Peter Rowe, "Dual Aspects of Tradition in Saudi Arabian Urban Housing Development," In Setha Low
and Erve Chambers, Housing Culture and Design: A Comparative Perspective (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989), 314.
C.E. Black. The Dynamics of Modernization: A Study in Comparative History (New York: Harper &
Row, Publishers, 1966), 32.