Conservation and land reclamation on the urban fringe with special reference to the Jeddah area, Saudi Arabia

Abstract EN

The large cities of Saudi Arabia have been expanding at a prodigious rate, and this has caused problems to the urban fringe areas.

Although the town centers are now kept very clean, the areas adjoining the built up spaces suffer from dumping of unwanted fill or general rubbish whilst the mountains and wadis are quarried for building materials and top-soil leaving scars on the landscape.

In this paper, the author discusses the problem and looks at the ways in which the land can be conserved and reclaimed for future generations of Saudi Arabia.

As an example, the urban area of Jeddah is considered, and it is seen that the coastal and inland areas should be considered separately.

Then, twelve sites in a semicircle around the city are mapped and identified as being worthy of special consideration for land reclamation and conservation projects.

A brief description is given of each.

Finally, the difficulties of planning control and implementation are discussed and some ideas put forward as a contribution to the process of finding solutions.

This article highlights a growing problem, which if dealt with now will have increasing benefits for the future.