Urban and rural profiles in Saudi Arabia

This book is a collection of articles by specialists on urban and rural development. The aim of the book is to bring into focus the tremendous developments taking place in Saudi Arabian urban and rural settlement system. The articles discuss a wide range of topics including urban growth and urbanization, interaction between core and periphery, regional development, urban transportation, municipal water, planned urban communities, housing problems, urban and rural land use, traditional rural settlements, integrated rural development and the development of rural institutions. All in all the book will be of interest to academics and planners and all those concerned with urban and rural development in Saudi Arabia. Up to the 1950s the bulk of the Saudi population lived in small rural settlements and the only cities of importance were Makkah, Madinah, Riyadh and Jeddah. In fact, in the 1950s nomadic groups constituted 60% of the total population. At present, however, this simple traditional socio-economic setup has been completely transformed, and nomadic groups form less than 10% of the population. On the other hand, between 1963 ? 1987 the urban population has grown from 15% to 75% leading thereby to considerable socio-economic and infrastructural changes.