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The growth of population, the higher standard of living and all other changes associated with economic growth have been generating pressure on urban land, and consequently on urban land development policies. Under the continuous pressure of urbanization and urban growth, land policies have displayed several weaknesses. As a result urban growth has not been directed in a manner consistant with development goals, as been able to respond to social and cultural needs. The aim of this dissertation is to explain existing land policies, identify the problems of urban land development, the weaknesses of land policies and attempt to find appropriate solutions. This thesis comprises ten chapters. The introductory chapter presents the thesis. The second chapter looks into the phenomenon of urbanization and its impact on urban land. The third chapter defines land policies whilst the fourth discusses and presents the cultural and environmental criteria by which land development and land policies will be evaluated. Chapter five and six examining physical planning policies in Saudi Arabia. Chapter seven evaluate land development and deffine existing urban land problems,it contains three case studies for the purpose of evaluation. Evaluation of land policies against the generated problems of land development are discussed in chapter eight. The ninth chapter presents the thesis recommendations and the final chapter concludes the work and presents some final remarks. In brief, the study concludes that existing land policies are Inadequate to meet the pressure of market forces and to facilitate land improvement. Nevertheless, existing policies have failed to produce an urban pattern compatable with cultural and environmental conditions. These weaknesses include: The failure to provide land for development and urbanisation; The inadequacy of land use controls; Deficient administrative system for development control. In order to overcome the above existing policies weaknesses, the thesis recommended several changes: - To the administration system at the local and regional levels; - To legal and administrative procedure of development controls; and - To the system for providing land for development and urbanization.

During the last four decades, Iraq, like most other developing countries, faced very rapid urban growth. Due to thr absence of definite urbanisation policies, the major part of the urban growth went to the main cities, in particular , the capital Baghdad. Such a pattern of growth created many socio-economic problems at the national, as well as the urban level. This study represents an attempt toward developing a methodology of dealing with urban growth problems on a regional level in Iraq. It aims at finding what is thought to be, under the prevailing socio-economic and physical constraints, the most efficient urban growth pattern in the Upper Euphrates Region (U.E.R.) up to 1985. To achieve this aim the study first reviews and critically examines a wide range of urban growth theories and models. Despite the lessons that were learned from this review and the adoptation of many of their principles in developing this study, they did not provide a ready made answer to the problem of urban growth in the region Secondly, for the better understanding of urbanisation on and spatial development policies in Iraq and the U.E.R. a thorough examination of these and other aspects has been dealt with in part two. Thirdly, after examining the basic techniques that could be used in analysing the urban growth problem, such as the cost-benefit analysis and its refinement the planning balance sheet, threshold analysis and the goals-achievement analysis, it is found that the latter, at this stage of development in Iraq could be applied in studying such a problem. Finally, three alternative urban growth patterns were considered, i.e., the expansion of the largest urban centre in each urban node, the expansion of the proposed smaller urban centres and the establishment of a new town in each urban node and a set of socio-economic, physical, environmental and structural, factors that were thought to affect strongly the proposed urban growth patterns were incorporated in the analysis. From these it was found that the expansion of the largest urban centre in each urban nod e is the most suitable solution at this stage of the socio-economic development of the region. The vitality of this conclusion was tested by applying sensitivity analysis which supported it.

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Investment in transport infrastructure can be highly sensitive to uncertainty. The scale and lead time of strategic transport programmes are such that they require continuing policy support and accurate forecasting. Delay, cost escalation and abandonment of projects often result if these conditions are not present. In Part One the physical characteristics of infrastructure are identified as a major constraint on planning processes. The extent to which strategies and techniques acknowledge these constraints is examined. A simple simulation model is developed to evaluate the effects on system development of variations in the scale and lead time of investments. In Part Two, two case studies of strategic infrastructure investment are analysed. The absence of a policy consensus for airport location was an important factor in the delayed resolution of the Third London Airport issue. In London itself, the traffic and environmental effects of major highway investment ultimately resulted in the abandonment of plans to construct urban motorways. In both cases, the infrastructure implications of alternative strategies are reviewed with reference to the problems of uncertainty. In conclusion, the scale of infrastructure investment is considered the most important of the constraints on the processes of transport planning. Adequate appraisal of such constraints may best be achieved by evaluation more closely aligned to policy objectives.