In a little more than a decade regional planning has emerged as a vital component of the development planning process in Saudi Arabia. From its limi ted beginnings in physical planning its scope has rapidly widened and the latest plans attempt comprehensive regional planning within the context of a multi-level development planning effort. This experience has been rich and varied, and various innovatory approaches and techniques have been introduced. This study was conducted with a view to evaluating Saudi experience and placing it in an international perspective. With these aims in mind, a comprehensive planning model has been developed and a number of key questions posed, the answers to which reflect the acceptability and practicality of the planning system. The model is based upon a review of international experience of countries with different political, social and cultural settings, and at different stages of development. The model consists of four main components: planning activities, plan making bodies, decision making bodies and implementing bodies with a feedback from the public and private sectors. The model was tested against the planning experience of three countries with widely differing political, social and economic settings: Canada with its laissez-faire economy, the United Kingdom with its mixed economy, and Poland with its command economy. It was concluded that the model is sufficiently robust to act as a framework wi thin which to describe and analyse the Saudi experience. The context for regional planning in Saudi Arabia was analysed. The study included the political and administrative systems, the economy,the settlement structure, the sectoral planning process, the spatial planning process, and the past experience in regional planning. Then, the current regional planning experience which includes the National Settlement Strategy and the Regional Comprehensive Planning Project were discussed and analysed, taking the five comprehensive regional development plans (Hail, Qassim, Baha, Tabuk and Makkah) as case studies. This "current" experience was evaluated against the comprehensive planning model and the key questions for an acceptable planning system. It has been found that the Saudi planning system is fairly well developed at the national and local scales. However, at the regional scale, although there is political commitment there is little in the way of administrative arrangements for plan making and implementation. A set of proposals for improving the planning system has been presented for future action.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:389490 |
| Date | January 1988 |
| Creators | Mashabi, Omar Awad |
| Publisher | University of Dundee |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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