Downtown Development

downtown_development
Project box

Geographical area: Middle East and North Africa

Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

City size: XL (above 5,000,000 inhabitants)

Promoter: National Government of Saudi Arabia and Municipality of Riyadh

Developer: Royal Commission for Riyadh City and Riyadh Development Company

Start year:

End-year:

Implementation phase: Implementation in progress

Project size: Neighborhood

Total area of intervention (in sqm): 15.000.000

Total investments (in USD): -

Project overview

The redevelopment of the Riyadh downtown area will involve an area of 15,000,000 sqm located at the heart of the city. The central neighborhood of the capital was traditionally populated by Saudi locals living in traditional and low-density residential buildings. However, Riyadh experienced an exponential population growth during recent decades, with an estimated population of around 8 billion people by 2030. The rapid population increase led the local population to move from the downtown area to the newly developed suburban neighborhoods, starting to abandon the central area of the city. As the neighborhood began to be populated by low-income immigrants, the downtown area started to suffer from several socio-economic issues, such as the deterioration of historical buildings, lack of public services and facilities, increasing criminal activity and high traffic density. To resolve this problem, the National Government of Saudi Arabia decided to regenerate the area, providing it with newly developed residential buildings, commercial activities and offices, together with the implementation of public services and improvement to the traffic network. The main goal is to attract Saudi residents to move back in the city center, gather private investments to fund new redevelopment projects and improve the wellbeing of the downtown residents. To renovate the area, the National Government established the Royal Commission for Riyadh City which designed the intervention plan to renovate the city downtown. The Royal Commission guides the entire planning and designing phases by defining the working plan and monitoring the entire process. The planning phase of the regeneration initiative started in 2015, where the Downtown Redevelopment has been integrated in the National Capital Oasis urban redevelopment plan. The plan outlines the renovation strategy of the city and the metropolitan region, focusing on improving residents’ wellbeing, providing job opportunities and public services, and conserving urban and cultural heritage. The design of individual development initiatives is then assigned to different private firms through the establishment of public-private partnerships with public entities. In addition, the Royal Commission monitors and is responsible for the entire implementation of the initiative, defining the development priorities and supervising the implementation together with the state-owned Riyadh Development Company and the Ministry of Housing. The Ministry of Housing participates in the with the development of different residential buildings, while the Riyadh Development Company monitors the entire planning and construction phases, establishes development priorities, defines the working plan and activities, and supervises the project during both the implementation and the after-completion phases. The redevelopment project aims to provide residential buildings, commercial activities, touristic historical and cultural landmarks, as well as institutional and public buildings in the distressed area. The main goal of the downtown redevelopment project is to foster employment opportunities and investment activities, aiming to regenerate the area and attract both new residents and workers. The project is set to generate approximately 180,000 job opportunities between the construction and operational phases, playing a pivotal role in boosting the city's non-oil economy. To support repopulation, the residential buildings will provide around 85,000 new housing units especially targeted to low- and middle-income households. The redevelopment project will also significantly improve mobility within the neighborhood, ameliorating the existing road network and providing pedestrian walks, cycling paths, new metro stations, and bus stops. To further improve the attractiveness of the downtown area, the initiative targets the creation of a new touristic route with entertainment activities, hotels and touristic services to boost tourist influx. Lastly, the project targets several environmental objectives, providing new green areas, public gardens and parks, creating green boulevards and planting trees along the main roads of the neighborhood, together with new and more efficient wastewater and sewage management systems.

The renovation of the downtown neighborhood will comprise a mix of land uses. The redevelopment will create new residential buildings, with some housing projects conducted by the Ministry of Housing. The renovation will allocate a vast area to commercial activities, within the residential districts, the mixed-use corridor, and inside the souk and inner core area. The redevelopment will then develop different public agencies headquarters and public sector buildings, allocating an important area of the neighborhood to institutional and public buildings such as administrative bodies, media institutions and government agencies. Lastly, the project will provide residents with renovated and new open spaces, public green areas, parks, pedestrian walks, cycling paths, and recreational areas such as the renovated touristic route and the mixed-use corridor comprising touristic, entertainment and leisure activities.

Benefits

The redevelopment of the downtown neighborhood focuses on regenerating the economic and commercial activity of the area, given the outflow of residents and businesses during recent years. The renovation of the neighborhood will provide important employment opportunities by regenerating the commercial areas with retail stores and offices, and by providing public employment positions within the new educational and cultural institutions. The renovation project will improve the overall attractiveness of the area, which will help to attract new residents and commercial activities in the neighborhood and create further employment opportunities. In addition, the construction of a new touristic route with entertainment activities, tourist services and new hotels will further improve the appeal of the area. The redevelopment will foster private investments in the neighborhood by providing investment packages to support real estate owners and small investors in individual development initiatives. The new commercial activities and services that will be hosted in the area will bring an estimated USD 20.6 billion increase in the Riyadh Gross Value Added by fostering local economic development. The number of jobs envisioned by the neighborhood renovation stands at almost 180,000 new positions, with around 17,000 created during the construction phase and 160,000 new employment positions generated during the operational phase.

By providing public transportation options and fostering sustainable mobility alternatives, the project aims to reduce the emissions generated from the high traffic and car usage in the neighborhood. To improve urban resilience, climate adaptation, and biodiversity within the city, the redevelopment plan will provide the neighborhood with new green areas, public gardens and parks and expand the existing ones. The redevelopment will create green boulevards and plant trees along the main roads and streets of the neighborhood. The new parks, open spaces and green areas will significantly improve the wastewater management of the neighborhood, as it will increase the permeable areas of the district by around 18% and reduce the overall runoff volumes of stormwater. Furthermore, the project will build a Reuse Quality Treated Sewage Effluent (RQTSE) network to supply water to irrigation reservoirs in the Central Area from wastewater. The system could also direct treated drainage water to the reservoirs which could be employed to irrigate public areas.

The main objective of the restoration of the downtown neighborhood is to repopulate the central districts of the city and regenerate a deteriorating and commercial-only area, promoting social equity and inclusiveness. The project will provide the neighborhood with a diversified housing pattern to promote social mix between residents and demographic balances, creating residential spaces with different housing densities. The residential buildings will provide housing options to low-income (24%), medium- and medium/low-income (55%), and high-income (21%) households for a total of 84,700 new housing units. In addition, the redevelopment of the neighborhood will benefit the residents by improving the provision of public utilities, relocating educational and cultural institutions, and ameliorating the infrastructures, in particular the road network. Another important objective of the redevelopment is the protection of the cultural heritage and preservation of the historical traits of the city. The redevelopment plan establishes special regulations for refurbishing all the buildings located inside the Old Riyadh walls, mainly targeting the Al Dirah district which hosts the Al Masmak Palace, the Al Hukm Palace and the Great Mosque Imam Turki bin Abdullah. Moreover, the project will create a touristic cultural and heritage route which crosses the west districts of the neighborhood and connects the Heritage Village, the King Abdulaziz Historical Centre, and the other cultural and entertainment landmarks. In addition, the neighborhood will be provided with vast entertainment and cultural use areas to host events and recreational activities. The renovation project focuses on improving mobility and transportation, providing the neighborhood with 10 metro stations of three different metro lines and with more than 60 bus stops. The redevelopment will further encourage sustainable mobility by creating a network of pedestrian walkways to connect the different districts of the neighborhood, and a cycling lanes network along the main streets of the neighborhood. Lastly, the project will renovate and improve the current road network to reduce traffic and improve car flow.

There are no environmental certifications that have been assigned to or targeted by the renovation project.

Finance model

As a public-led initiative, the redevelopment of the downtown neighborhood will be both financed by public and private sources, as it comprises the development of public spaces, residential buildings and private commercial areas. However, there is no specific information on which are the exact financing sources that will provide funding for the redevelopment projects.

The renovation project of Downtown Development will provide dedicated investment packages to private institutions, to encourage real estate owners and small investors in undertaking individual development initiatives. In addition, these individual development initiatives will be conducted through the establishment of a public-private partnership between public entities and private developers.

References and Credits

Royal Commission for Riyadh City. Riyadh Downtown Development Program. Accessed on 06/05/2024. Available here.

Klingmann, A. (2022). Re-scripting Riyadh’s historical downtown as a global destination: a sustainable model?. Journal of Place Management and Development, 15(2), 93-111. Available here.

Tayeh, N. N. (2018). Urban Regeneration to Reclaim Sustainability in Cities: The Case of Down Town Riyadh, KSA. In International Conference for Sustainable Design of the Built Environment-SDBE London (p. 929). Available here.

Image from the Royal Commission for Riyadh City, retrieved here.