For years, Jeddah, a significant Red Sea port city, has served as a cultural and economic crossroads. Its urban expansion, heavily driven by its discovery of petroleum in the mid-twentieth century, changed it from a small commercial town to a huge metropolis. This chapter looks at the urban growth of Jeddah, concentrating on the consequences of oil reliance and ongoing attempts to transform the city’s future under Saudi Vision 2030. Vision 2030, a strategy framework designed to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy and lessen its dependency on oil, paves the way for Jeddah’s transformation to a more resilient, sustainable, and diverse urban landscape. The chapter goes into the several obstacles Jeddah confronts in transitioning away from its oil-driven economic paradigm. The chapter examines how oil riches have affected Jeddah’s urban growth and how the city is currently tackling the socioeconomic and environmental implications of that dependence using a combination of historical research, policy evaluation, and case studies. The chapter examines Jeddah’s reliance on oil in defining its infrastructure, urban expansion, and socio-spatial inequities, all of which are relevant to the debate of sustainable development in cities. Jeddah’s pre-oil development was defined by organic, human-scale expansion based on commerce and pilgrimage, as opposed to the fast urbanization powered by oil profits, which favored car-dependent systems and large-scale contemporary developments. The topic at hand revolves around the 2030 plan, which seeks to transition Jeddah to a post-oil era by fostering economic diversity, improving heritage protection, and promoting environmental sustainability. The next section assesses the outcome of these attempts, focusing on significant programs like the King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) and the Al-Balad Revitalization Project. These studies demonstrate Jeddah’s attempts to diversify its economy through tourism, technology, and finance, all while retaining its distinct cultural and historical character. The research also takes into account the city’s environmental difficulties, such as air pollution, waste management, and a lack of green space, which have all been exacerbated by oil-centric development. The chapter takes a mixed-method approach, combining qualitative and quantitative data to evaluate Jeddah’s urban change. This contains information about transportation infrastructure, economic statistics, green space development, and environmental measures including carbon emissions and air quality. The findings emphasize the need for sustainable urban design, particularly the development of walkable communities, the growth of public transit, and the use of renewable energy sources. The chapter finishes with a SWOT analysis of Jeddah’s urban transformation, which identifies both difficulties and possibilities on the city’s path to a sustainable future. Key issues include managing growing urbanization, resolving socio-spatial disparities, and minimizing environmental deterioration. However, the opportunities given by Vision 2030, particularly in terms of promoting economic diversification and increasing cultural and environmental resilience, provide a bright journey forward.

Reimagining Jeddah’s Urban Landscape: Transitioning Beyond Oil Dependence

章节
发表日期：

2025年

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Kareem Mohsen,
Nermeen Elkateeb

摘要

For years, Jeddah, a significant Red Sea port city, has served as a cultural and economic crossroads. Its urban expansion, heavily driven by its discovery of petroleum in the mid-twentieth century, changed it from a small commercial town to a huge metropolis. This chapter looks at the urban growth of Jeddah, concentrating on the consequences of oil reliance and ongoing attempts to transform the city’s future under Saudi Vision 2030. Vision 2030, a strategy framework designed to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy and lessen its dependency on oil, paves the way for Jeddah’s transformation to a more resilient, sustainable, and diverse urban landscape. The chapter goes into the several obstacles Jeddah confronts in transitioning away from its oil-driven economic paradigm. The chapter examines how oil riches have affected Jeddah’s urban growth and how the city is currently tackling the socioeconomic and environmental implications of that dependence using a combination of historical research, policy evaluation, and case studies. The chapter examines Jeddah’s reliance on oil in defining its infrastructure, urban expansion, and socio-spatial inequities, all of which are relevant to the debate of sustainable development in cities. Jeddah’s pre-oil development was defined by organic, human-scale expansion based on commerce and pilgrimage, as opposed to the fast urbanization powered by oil profits, which favored car-dependent systems and large-scale contemporary developments. The topic at hand revolves around the 2030 plan, which seeks to transition Jeddah to a post-oil era by fostering economic diversity, improving heritage protection, and promoting environmental sustainability. The next section assesses the outcome of these attempts, focusing on significant programs like the King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) and the Al-Balad Revitalization Project. These studies demonstrate Jeddah’s attempts to diversify its economy through tourism, technology, and finance, all while retaining its distinct cultural and historical character. The research also takes into account the city’s environmental difficulties, such as air pollution, waste management, and a lack of green space, which have all been exacerbated by oil-centric development. The chapter takes a mixed-method approach, combining qualitative and quantitative data to evaluate Jeddah’s urban change. This contains information about transportation infrastructure, economic statistics, green space development, and environmental measures including carbon emissions and air quality. The findings emphasize the need for sustainable urban design, particularly the development of walkable communities, the growth of public transit, and the use of renewable energy sources. The chapter finishes with a SWOT analysis of Jeddah’s urban transformation, which identifies both difficulties and possibilities on the city’s path to a sustainable future. Key issues include managing growing urbanization, resolving socio-spatial disparities, and minimizing environmental deterioration. However, the opportunities given by Vision 2030, particularly in terms of promoting economic diversification and increasing cultural and environmental resilience, provide a bright journey forward.