Globalisation is the hallmark that defines urbanism of this age, yet expressions of it in different regions could not be more nuanced. The Gulf region asserts its position in the global network of cities by a particular scale, scope and rate of urbanisation that distinguishes it from many places in the world. In attempting to consolidate transnational partnerships and relations, urban development that is fundamentally reliant on oil revenues breeds its own particularities and contradictions. Within the context of Saudi Arabia, urbanisation has been intertwined with various political, social, cultural and economic factors. Given that urban growth has been facilitated by a network of relations beyond the discovery of oil, this study investigates the political constructions of urban growth discourse in Saudi Arabia’s planning system. It introduces an interpretive dimension of urban growth that underpins its operation; namely, how urban growth is being conceptualised and embedded in the planning system, and relatedly, how it emerged from its own specific set of circumstances and relates to the global city discourse. Discourse analysis was utilised to discern the formulations illustrated in five development plans whereby the historical variability is depicted from 1970 to 2010. The findings illustrate that capitalist orderings and Islamic principles were the most consistent institutional underpinnings of urban growth in Saudi Arabia across five decades.
Mots clés : Governance |Globalisation |Gulf |Discourse|Saudi Arabia
A102799SA