Cultural Continuity and Saudi Urban Planning: National, Regional and Municipal

In other writings Mubarak’s work has focused on the sociopolitical and economic processes of formation, growth and location that have primarily determined the shift, organisation and distribution of the contemporary spatial network in Saudi Arabia. The operation of these forces has been largely affected by the oil economy and political circumstances of the nation-state, but the scale of urbanisation must not be underestimated. The pace of urbanisation in the Arab Gulf states, with urban populations reaching 96 per cent, has not been matched by any other region of the world.2 The restructuring of the national economy under the aegis of the new nation-state spurred the urbanisation process, and Saudi towns and settlements became loci of unprecedented growth, exhibiting overcrowding, high levels of chronic deprivation and poverty. In general the internal organisation of urban forms has remained free of public accountability and has taken place in an uncontrolled fashion.