Dr. Jayprakash Chadchan Assistant Professor City and Regional Planning Department

1. “An approach to explore and outline alternative sustainable urban development pattern for new towns and urban extensions in Saudi Arabia” Dr. Jayprakash Chadchan Assistant Professor City and Regional Planning Department College of Environmental Design King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, KFUPM Box 1737 Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia E-: jpchadchan@kfupm.edu.sa and jpchadchan@gmail.com

2. CONTEXT Globalization has affected urbanland and housing markets of major cities across the globe including MENA region In MENA region more than US$300 billion is being invested in building urban residential, commercial, tourism, leisure, and entertainment projects.   Rapidly expanding population - Urban share of total population grew from 48% in 1980 to close to 60% in 2000and is expected to exceed 70% by 2015(World Bank, 2008). Cities are in the midst of restructuring space, in terms of both use and form. Migration of the population from rural hinterlands into urban areas, coupled with large scale immigration of foreign labour. Poor governance reforms and absence of dynamic private sector. High cost of land and housing in the formal sector coupled with poor land management. Increase in the ownership of private automobiles and lack of efficient urban public transport systems. Map showing MENA region Source : Arab Construction World

3. URBAN GROWTH TRENDS IN KSA Saudi Arabia is one of the most rapidly urbanizing countries in the worldin general and MENA region in particular. Saudi Arabia’s free market economy has undergone remarkable changes in a relatively short period of time. It has evolved from a basic agricultural society into a regional and global economic power with a modern infrastructure. The current Country’s population is around 29 million and is growing annually at the rate of 2.8 percent. At present, the population residing in urban areas is 82 percent. As per Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs (MMRA) forecast, 88 percent of the Kingdom’s population will be living in urban areas by 2025, exerting severe social, economic and environmental consequences. The key urban problems witnessed in the major cities of the KSA are: Uncontrolled low density sprawled urban expansion Absence of adequate public urban transport system Poor supply of residential land and shortage of affordable housing units. Map showing KSA

4. KEY OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS REFLECTED IN THE NINTH DEVELOPMENT PLAN (2010 -2014) - KSA Providing decent and adequate housing for citizens (construction of one million housing units to meet 80% of expected demand for housing). Increasing supply of houses and residential lands (Provision of around 266 million square meters of land to establish housing projects expected to be constructed by the public and private sectors). Providing highly efficient transport services. Upgrading safety standards in various transport means. Protecting the environment against emissions of transport means. Supporting the process of socio-economic development. Providing infrastructure and expanding IT applications in both public and private sectors.

5. URBAN HOUSING SCENARIO IN KSA A mismatch between supply and demand has caused a crisis in the Country’s Housing market spurred by rapid population growth, the high cost of land and housing units, increasing urbanization and limited role of private players. The scarcity of affordable housing is one of the major social problems the country has been facing. Estimates indicate that, the country needs at least 15000 housing units annually for residential property (AlMunajjed, 2012). On the other hand, there is a serious mismatch between high prices of housing units and lower salaries. According to Jeddah Municipality estimates, by 2015 the housing shortfall in the Kingdom will be around 2 million. Most Saudis live in rented accommodation and it is estimated that only 30 percent of Saudis own their houses. The most pressing challenges in the provision of affordable housing are inadequate housing finance, socio-cultural factors, access to public transport services and use of “green” building concepts.

6. URBAN TRANSPORT SCENARIO IN KSA Despite robust growth of the Saudi economy, developments in the transport sector have not been forthcoming. The poor state of public transport infrastructure is a fall-out of years of neglect. Easy accessibility to private automobiles and low fuel prices have steadily increased automobile traffic levels leading to rise in congestion and accidents in urban areas. Statistics indicate that, the average number of accident related fatalities in the Kingdom is about 6,400 cases annually which translates to a daily average of 18 deaths/day. The number of those injured is almost 68,000 annually (Al-Sughair, 2013).

7. The deterioration in public transport facilities in Saudi cities can be attributed to various economic, social and regulatory challenges facing the sector. Table below lists key challenges impeding the development of public transport facilities in urban areas. PUBLIC TRANSPORT CHALLENGES IN KSA Source: International Association of Public Transport

8. Alarming rate of urban population growth. • Dispersed and uncontrolled low-density sprawled urban expansion leading to provision of inadequate and costly infrastructure. • Alarming rate of loss of scarce productive land for urban expansion. • Low density new urban extensions, unviable for public transport. • In-efficient public transport has lead to increasing ownership of private motorized vehicles. • Increased private motorized vehicles are causing the problems of congestion, traffic safety, and Pollution. • Increase in real estate prices. • High demand for affordable residential land and housing units. • If the present pattern of urban development is allowed to continue with business as usual, is most likely to lead to adverse implications in the near future. In order to reduce, the negative environmental impacts and the depletion of natural resources mainly land and to make available, affordable housing units with efficient public transport accessibility and to make urban environment more livable, it is the need of the hour to explore and adopt an alternative urban development pattern which is sustainable and relevant. • if the present pattern of urban development is allowed to continue with business as usual, is most likely to lead to adverse implications in the near future. In order to reduce, the negative environmental impacts and the depletion of natural resources mainly land and to make available, affordable housing units with efficient public transport accessibility and to make urban environment more livable, it is the need of the hour to explore and adopt an alternative urban development pattern which is sustainable and relevant. KEY FINDINGS :

9. ALTERNATIVE CONTEMPORARY URBAN GROWTH THEORIES AND CONCEPTS : COMPACT CITY • Guiding urban development to sustainability. • Reduce development costs in providing infrastructure to new development sites as well as transportation costs (Jenks et. al, 1996). • Relatively a high-density, mixed-use city, based on an efficient public transport system and dimensions that encourage walking and cycling (Burton, 2000). NEW URBANISM • Promotes for neighborhoods with open space for civic opportunities, sidewalks and streets based on the grid system, an integrated use of mixed-residential, retail, and office space within walking distance from residential units. • Combines elements of the 18th and 19th century American and European towns -- “neighborhood feel where everyone knows your name” with interconnected streets, easy access to transit, and bicycle and pedestrian pathways (Hikichi, 2003).

10. ALTERNATIVE CONTEMPORARY URBAN DEVELOPMENT THEORIES AND CONCEPTS : SMART GROWTH • Smart Growth is an alternative to dispersed, automobile dependent development outside existing urban areas, often called sprawl. • Smart Growth can provide a variety of economic, social and environmental benefits. Source. Litman (2006), VTPI Source. Burchell, et al, 1998; ICCMA, 1998; Litman, 2006; USEPA, 2004.

11. MATRIX SHOWING COMPARISON BETWEEN CONTEMPORARY URBAN DEVELOPMENT THEORIES

12. SPREAD DEVELOPMENT Vs COMPACT DEVELOPMENT a. Spread (Sixteen units) b. Linear, Compact form (Sixteen units) Accessibility of land uses and infrastructure increases and costs of services reduces with compact development c. Spread (Twenty Five units) d. Twenty five units compactly arranged

13. COMPARISON BETWEEN SPRAWL-TYPE DEVELOPMENT AND COMPACT, TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT, RELATED TO URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE ASPECTS

14. INFERENCES AND APPLICATION POTENTIAL • Considering present rapid growth of urban development ,it is need of the hour to rethink about the sustainability of the existing development pattern and equate it with the available scarce natural resources mainly land. • Required to understand the complex phenomenon of urban development and its strong linkages with urban sub-sectors mainly housing, transportation and other infrastructure services. • Theories are being applied successfully at different scales of planning and development mainly in revitalizing the old congested city areas as well as preserving productive arable land and other resources at regional level, in American and European cities. • Theories are not just theoretical utopia, but workable ideas of alternative patterns of urban development which have evolved in response to the increasing need for a resource-conserving, sustainable, and people-centric city ensuring high quality of urban life. • Saudi Arabia has the potential to adopt and execute few of the above discussed principles and growth theories in an integrated manner with little modifications to suit to the local context.

15. CONCLUSION The appropriate and sustainable pattern of urban development for the major cities would include necessarily the following: ( For urban extensions of existing cities and new towns) • Compact, high density, sustainable, mixed land use development in terms of walk able, bicycle –oriented and anthropo-centric communities which are safe, secure and universally accessible. • Availability of housing choices which are affordable and easily accessible to all sections of the society. • High capacity, high speed, multi-modal and multi-level transport corridors connecting the communities. • Use of diverse modes of slow and medium speed transport within communities including walking, cycling, and other environment friendly para- transports. • Conservation of arable/coastal land by containing urban expansion. • Creating and maintaining aesthetically appealing, functionally efficient and healthy environment. ( In case of redevelopment within the metro cities) • Densification along the existing corridor development by way of increasing Floor Area Ratio (FAR) • Bringing waste and unused public and private land within the city for re- development. • Integration of land use and transport. • Encouraging Mixed land use development. • Replacing old dilapidated buildings with new-high rise group housing complexes. • Developing transport infrastructure facilities above and beneath the ground surface.

16. REFERENCES • AL-Sughair, S. (2013). Expert alarmed at ‘dangerous’ rise in number of traffic accident victims, Arab News, Dec. 11, 2013. • AlMunajjed, M. S. (2012). Affordable housing a GCC priority, Arab News, Oct. 6, 2012. • Burchell, et al., (1998). The Costs of Sprawl – Revisited, TCRP Report 39, Transportation Research Board, (www.trb.org), Washington, D.C. • Burton E. (2000). ‘The Compact City: Just or just compact? A preliminary analysis’ Urban Studies, 37(11): 1969-2007. • Hikichi, Lynda (2003). New Urbanism and Transportation, University of Wisconsin. • ICCMA (1998). Why Smart Growth: A Primer, International City/County Management Association, Smart Growth Network and USEPA. Available from: www.epa.gov/smartgrowth. • Jenks, M., Burton, E. and Williams, K. (1996). “Compact Cities and Sustainability: An Introduction”, in Jenks, M., Burton, E., and Williams, K. (eds.), The Compact City: A Sustainable Urban Form? London: E &FN Spon, pp. 11-12. • Litman, T. (2006). Evaluating Transportation Land use Impacts, Victoria Transport Policy Institute (VTPI), Canada. • Ninth Development Plan (2010-2014), Ministry of Economy & Planning, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. • USEPA (2004). Characteristics and Performance of Regional Transportation Systems, Smart Growth Program, US Environmental Protection Agency. Available from www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/performance2004final.pdf. • World Bank (2008). Urban Development in Middle East and North Africa Region.

17. THANK YOU