Evaluating Compact City Model Implementation as a Sustainable Urban Development Tool to Control Urban Sprawl in the City of Jeddah

Abstract

Urban sprawl is one of the most challenging urban phenomena. Many urban planners believe that it is difficult to achieve sustainable development without managing undesired urban growth. Since the 1960s, a wide range of urban planning policies have been introduced to manage urban sprawl. The concepts of New Urbanism, smart growth, and compact city started to be discussed and implemented in developed countries. Jeddah, as the second largest city in Saudi Arabia, is no exception. The planning authority has attempted to apply a compact city model to control urban sprawl. This study aims to evaluate the implementation of the compact city model in Jeddah by comparing the outcomes to what was expected. It presents the historical urban growth pattern and discusses in detail the effect of the policy implementation on both district and city growth level. The main study findings are as follows: (i) While the compact city model depends on encouraging people to live in high-density districts and mixed-use development to reduce commuting time and increase the efficiency of public transport, Jeddah failed to provide an efficient public transportation system to encourage investments in mixed-use real-estate projects. (ii) A higher population density was achieved (from 44 to 155 person per hectare), but it came with many other infrastructure, social, and economic issues. (iii) The implementation failed to control the sprawl as was anticipated. The city grew within the study area by about 20% and the price per square m was increased by 300%. Thus, the main finding of the study shows that to achieve noticeable sustainable urban development—in the case of Jeddah—the planning authority should aim for more regulation of flat urban development and promote a more realistic and sustainable intensification policy. A well-designed approach to guide future development and provide functional open spaces to enhance the sense of community, reducing automobile dependency and respecting all other local social, economic, and environmental aspects, could be more effective in reducing and controlling the rate of urban sprawl.