values of ordinary people.
This led to what can be called a “hesitant urban identity,” exacerbated
in part by governmental planning. Since 1968, when Doxiadis started
planning Riyadh, the Saudi government initiated more than 100 plans
for most of the Saudi city, concentrating on physical planning and pay-
ing little attention to socio-cultural factors. The resulting conflict in the
urban forms has increased the gap between residents and their urban
environment, a phenomenon which has played a major role in the cul-
tural resistance towards built environments in Saudi Arabia.These recent and continuing shifts of emphasis within the built environment in Saudi Arabia are reactions to this sense
of lost identity.^26 Borrowing from the past is used as a tool to maintain visual identity in Saudi Arabia. Al-Shuaibi^27
states that “designers of various disciplines always borrow from the past, whether ancient or recent.”^28 Abu-Gezzeh also
encourages those buildings which he calls “hybrid regional architecture.” For him, this type of building “reflects both
modern and traditional influences.”^29
Critical to urbanization issues such as this in Saudi Arabia is the role
of public participation in government planning, which mostly has
been minimal thus far. Although Saudi Arabia has started to elect
municipal councils, the role of these councils is largely consultative
rather than decisive. This may change in the near future due to pub-
lic pressure, but until this changes, responsibility for the urban form
in Saudi Arabia remains in just a few hands.
Whether the Saudi built environment will continue in its conserva-
tism, or open its arms to global trends, the identity of the Saudi urban
form has already been crafted. Change will be difficult. Most important is to what extent Saudi society will absorb global
trends while maintaining its identity, and the future of the decision making process in urban planning.
- Early attempts to re-use traditional images in contemporary buildings started in the late 1970’s, especially in governmental
buildings. This can be attributed to the worldwide raised consciousness about the local cultures. M. Al-Naim, “Culture,
History, and Architecture: Qasr Al-Hokm District in Riyadh,” Ahlan Washlan (Saudi Arabian Airline Magazine), Vol. 20, No.
9, (1996), pp.12-17. - Saudi architect, widely known and well regarded for interpreting and using traditional forms in the contemporary Saudi
urban environment. - H. Salam, ed., Expressions of Islam in Buildings, Proceedings of International Seminar, Sponsored by the Aga Khan Award
for Architecture and the Indonesian Institute of Architects, Jakarta and Yogyakarta, Indonesia (1990), p. 38. - See T. Abu-Gezzeh, “Vernacular Architecture Education in the Islamic Society of Saudi Arabia: Towards the Development
of an Authentic Contemporary Built Environment.”
Al-Naim...
Figure 5: Urban morphology — Riyadh
Figure 6: King Abdulaziz Historical Center. Note a
high rise building in the back constructed in the early
1980s.