Environmental Adaptation Tools as an Approach to Meet Challenges in Urban Planning in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Urban areas are facing the risk of climate change due to high temperatures, floods, storms, droughts, and the expected rise in sea levels, as a result of the rapid growth in urban and industrial activities. Cities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are primarily exposed to the effects of high heat and floods after rare events of heavy rainfall. This requires the search for sustainable and appropriate planning solutions to adapt to climate change within the framework of sustainable urban planning. Urban planning can play a significant role in addressing climate change through sustainable adaptation. Therefore, the research aims to study and identify appropriate environmental tools and planning approaches that can be integrated into the urban planning methodology to adapt to climate change in urban areas in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Some case studies of urban areas exposed to the risk of climate change were studied and analyzed to evaluate the planning tools and approaches adopted to confront these risks. five cases were studied. The challenges and positives of these tools and approaches were deduced. The appropriate planning approach has been selected for the privacy of Saudi cities to face the effects of climate change. The research concluded that sponge cities are the appropriate approach for Saudi cities to face the risks of floods. The suitability of the sponge cities was assessed in comparison with the case of floods in Jeddah city, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The research also reached steps to integrate the requirements of converting to spongy cities in the urban planning methodology at the different planning levels