Urban and industrial development planning as an approach for Saudi Arabia: the case study of Jubail and Yanbu

During the last thirty years, the Saudi government has widely employed massive oil resources to enhance urban and industrial development. This was crowned by two giant urban and industrial projects in Jubail and Yanbu. The planning efforts attempt to provide the means to control and manage the industrial development and the physical growth of the two communities. In order to achieve a set of planning objectives, the Saudi government employed two independent planning commissions known as the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu (RCJY). These commissions undertook the responsibility to plan, build and manage two large-scale industrial cities. The system of Commissions and Higher Committees was followed and still practised in the planning of airports, seaports, universities, medical cities and residential neighborhoods. The paper attempts to review analytically various planning processes, which was adopted by some known agencies in Saudi Arabia. By examining these processes one would hope to draw key lessons which can be used by professionals as well as students in the field of planning in Saudi Arabia.