Search Results (8)

Rapid urbanization and car dependency have transformed Riyadh into a sprawling metropolis, straining mobility, sustainability, and land use efficiency. Investments in metro and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems present an opportunity to shift toward transit-oriented development (TOD), making strategic urban planning essential. This study assesses Riyadh’s TOD potential by analyzing its urban structure, transport accessibility, and regulatory framework while drawing lessons from successful global models. This study applies GIS-based spatial analysis, policy review, and AI-driven clustering techniques (e.g., DBSCAN, K-Means) to evaluate TOD readiness and inform actionable strategies for Riyadh. The findings indicate that transit investments alone are insufficient due to gaps in zoning policies, pedestrian connectivity, and urban density. Enhancing compact, mixed-use developments, improving first- and last-mile accessibility, and leveraging AI-driven planning can reshape the city’s mobility ecosystem and foster sustainable urban growth. Vision 2030 provides a pivotal opportunity to align infrastructure investments with urban planning policies, ensuring Riyadh evolves into a modern, efficient, and transit-friendly city. Full article

Riyadh, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is now presenting itself as one of the most attractive capitals in the Middle East, with a number of ambitious expansion projects that aim to develop the city and align its urban development with the goals of Vision 2030. This urban renaissance requires researchers to adopt evaluation approaches (BSAMs) based on comprehensive sustainability criteria represented by environmental and cultural sustainability, community engagement, and economic feasibility. This research relies on the ETE methodology to determine evaluation criteria and their weights, which is a systematic and interactive method of prediction based on the opinion of a group of experts, or what is known as the Delphi method. Experts answered questionnaires to determine the weights of the criteria in three rounds where they received an anonymous summary of the experts’ predictions from the previous round with the reasons they provided for their judgments. The responses were then analyzed to identify recurring and converging themes and contradictions using the top-of-priority similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) technique, thus deriving an integrated evaluation model. The model was applied to evaluate architectural practices in Riyadh through three major projects: the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center, the King Abdullah Financial District, and the King Abdullah Financial District Metro Station. Data sources included comprehensive site visits, detailed project documentation, and expert evaluation through structured questionnaires to gain a realistic view of attitudes towards architectural needs and sustainability. This adds to the knowledge on how globalization interacts with the urban renewal landscape in Riyadh and encourages us to continue proposing effective evaluation models by drawing attention to the multidimensional nature of sustainability. This in turn points to the need for continuous re-evaluation of architectural activities in Riyadh through project evaluation results that attest to their compatibility with international standards and local cultural contexts. Overall, the proposed evaluation model has proven successful in testing projects at the local level by providing a sustainable framework. The results showed that projects adhere to varying levels of sustainability requirements, but, more importantly, these evaluation models were developed to rationalize accelerated construction processes. Full article

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is known for its high car ownership and usage and its high GDP per capita. This, combined with a low provision of public transportation (PT) systems, has resulted in perceptual attitudes of high dependency on private car travel. The level of awareness of the benefits of reducing car use and increasing travel by more sustainable options has a great impact on social change and behaviour. The Kingdom is currently progressing towards a new phase of “national reform” through implementation of strategic sustainable programs. Riyadh city is constructing a massive metro-system, which is nearing completion and operation. The public is aware of the national agenda, the construction of transportation projects, and of the social changes needed to realize the new vision of the country. This paper aims to assess travel behaviours and attitudes of Saudi nationals towards public transportation. A discrete choice model of the intent to use public transportation is calibrated as a function of social and attitudinal factors, using online survey data. The analysis was carried out using an ordered logit model (OLR) which is derived from the theory of random utility. The results show that, overall, a higher support for public transportation modes was stated by young females, lower income groups, and university graduates. The level of awareness of the national agenda appears to be increasing the level of support for public transportation. The paper is the first investigation of willingness to use public transportation in Riyadh, at a crucial time of national reform; the choice of mode of travel appears to be determined by the travellers’ social and economic characteristics and the level of awareness of the country’s agenda. Full article

Car ownership and use in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) are very high due to the high income, the low fuel prices and the near absence of public transportation in the Kingdom. Currently, the Kingdom is going through a massive transformation and entering a new era of national reforms. One of the main aims of the national reforms is to reduce car dependency and enhance more sustainable options of travel such as public transportation in the KSA. In order to achieve such an aim, there are two hurdles: Firstly, there must be a provision of decent public transportation options, and secondly, there is a need to influence travel behaviour and encourage the shift from private cars to public transportation. For example, in Riyadh city, an impressive metro system is being constructed and will start operation in 2023. To influence travel behaviour, travel demand management measures (TDM), in particular pricing measures, can be adopted and implemented, in order to help and support achieving the target. The main aim of this paper, therefore, is to assess the attitudes of Saudi nationals towards—and willingness to accept—pricing measures and their possible impacts on their travel behaviour in the city of Riyadh. The methodology includes collecting data using an online survey on travel behaviour and attitudes in Riyadh and calibrating multinomial logit modal choice models. The participants in the survey were asked to report their support of the pricing measures for the objective of reducing congestion in the city, improving road safety or reducing travel time. The results show the highest support towards pricing measures for improving road safety, reducing travel times and, lastly, reducing congestion in the city. Full article

Many countries are contemplating a smart sustainable approach to the next generation of cities. However, there are many obstacles to achieve this objective, such as planning and implementing sustainable dimensions. The aim of this study is to (1) investigate the level of importance of the different sustainable dimensions in Riyadh and (2) distinguish the effect of two proposed solutions on dimensions for a smart approach to rank the proposed solutions based on their level of impact in Riyadh. In this study, the sustainability dimensions are six main measurable criteria that include Smart Economy, Smart Mobility, Smart Environment, Smart People, Smart Governance, and Smart Living. The research also utilized a multi-step methodology that involved an expert-based survey and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (F-AHP) to assess the performance indices of components for a smart method in Riyadh and evaluate the proposed solutions, namely, the construction of a metro network to link all of Riyadh to align with the government objective for 2030, and encouraging the construction of smart buildings through Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. The results show that Smart People, Smart Mobility, and Smart Living were the three most important sustainable indices for Riyadh. Furthermore, the results of the proposed construction projects illustrate that both projects had the same impact on five of the six sustainable indices, but that the metro project had a significantly higher impact on one of the indices. The study is also envisaged to aid decision-makers in prioritizing the upcoming public construction projects. Finally, this is the first study of its kind to address ranking real public construction projects in terms of sustainable development. Full article

The need to gain a comprehensive understanding of road travelers’ choice of mode and their perceptions of using sustainable urban mobility modes have evolved to shape the form of future transport planning and policymaking. To combat the concern of growing traffic congestion in Riyadh City, the government of Saudi Arabia designed and introduced a sustainable public transport project named “Riyadh Metro”. This study explores the potential commuters’ perception towards the Metro services and the factors that limit their propensity to use Metro and understand the tradeoffs that the individuals make when they are faced with a combination of mode characteristics (e.g., travel time, price, walking time). The stated preferences experiment was conducted on a sample from the Riyadh neighborhood by structured interviews. A discrete choice model based on binary logistic regression has been developed. The coefficient of travel attribute: travel time, fuel cost, Metro fare, and walking time was found to be statistically significant with a different effect on mode choice. The elasticity of the coefficient showed that an increase in the fuel price by 10% would increase the metro ridership by 5.3% and reduce car dependency. Decreasing the walking time by 5 min to the metro station will increase the metro ridership by 22%. Furthermore, the study revealed that implementing a 1 SAR/hour parking charge will decrease car dependency by 14%. Increase Metro fare by 10% will decrease Metro ridership by 6.9%. The socioeconomic factors coefficient shows a marginal effect on the choice decision of passengers. Full article

Rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, commonly referred to as distributed generation (DG) solar systems, are deemed important contenders in future sustainable cities. Because deploying DG systems is associated with technical, financial, policy, and market implications that impact utilities, governments, and businesses, quantifying the potential of DG systems that could be deployed in a certain jurisdiction ex ante helps inform the decision-making process for all stakeholders. To that end, the upper limit of rooftop PV systems that could be deployed in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, was assessed with the aid of geographic information systems (GIS). By relying on urban land lot data for different categories, i.e., zones, and the maximum allowable area that could be built within a certain lot using prevailing building codes and regulations, the rooftop area suitable for PV deployment within Riyadh Metro was quantified. The analysis was restricted to rooftops in residential, mosque, shopping mall, and health care buildings only. Following the quantification of the rooftop area, the upper limit of rooftop solar PV capacity that can be deployed in the city of Riyadh was found to be 4.34 GW. This capacity represents nearly 22% of the peak load and can satisfy approximately 9% of the energy requirement in the central region, the region in which Riyadh resides. Full article

In the framework of the largest urban-transit system ever built from scratch, the Riyadh Metro Project (6 lines totaling 176 km), a comprehensive investigation was carried out for karst detection, prevention and correction. This case study of the Metro Line 3 (41.6 km) seeks to show how the multi-technique geophysical survey (seismic refraction, electrical resistivity and ground penetration radar down to 40–50 m depth) was found to be a successful tool in detecting karst features. Preventive measures included systematic probing drilling to anticipate karst cavities below foundations (653 piers) and tunnel lining evaluation using 2D finite elements. Finally, this paper provides initial guidance of the corrective techniques used for each engineering challenge, such as cavity filling with grouting, geogrid reinforcement, etc. Full article