RIYADH FORWARD
USA, 2019

As the capital and most populous city of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh it is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau and hosting more than six million people.

The city is divided into 15 municipal districts, managed by the Municipality of Riyadh headed by the mayor of Riyadh, and the Development Authority of Riyadh which is chaired by the governor of the Province.

For the last decades the city has grown with a horizontal tendency, sprawling away from downtown. This growth is linked to diverse Fordist production economic activities that pushed Riyadh forward, nevertheless this generated an American based development scenario of dispersion and automobile reliance.

We live in a current paradigm shift in which alternative energy sources are more profitable and beneficial, urban growth strategies focus even more in development and density than production and sprawl, and topics such as public space and mobility are no longer optional but necessary for a proper and competitive performance of a city.

Riyadh faces a new challenge, how to move the city forward by adapting new economies, technologies, and contemporary urban scenarios that will propel it as a sustainable,equitable, walkable, and humane metropolis.

To develop a comprehensive urban diagnosis the study focuses on five concepts: Urban Form, City Image, Mobility, Economic Development, and Nature. By mapping these urban concepts, which we consider important for a sustainable and healthy growth of a metropolis, we discovered certain geographical moments that will receive several and innovative design strategies and proposals.

(Urban Collective)