Environmental planning and management for the Assarawat highland region of south-western Saudi Arabia: the traditional versus the professional approach

The environmental planning and management of the Assarawat highlands of south-western Saudi Arabia are currently confronted by difficult problems. Deforestation is caused either by natural or intentional forces. Natural factors are limited to lightning fire and drought, while intentional forces include vandalism caused by the burning or cutting of preserved forests. Such vandalism continues despite the tremendous efforts of afforestation and preservation by several government agencies, especially the Ministry of Agriculture and Water, the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development and by the municipalities of the cities and towns in the region. For centuries, local inhabitants of the Assarawat highlands have successfully established environmental planning and management strategies which balanced the settlements' growth and natural resource uses according to Islamic laws, and the tribal self-government of each settlement and tribal region. Following the establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, the land management system started to change from tribal-based, where every tribe used to manage its local territory, to State authority. The creation of the State witnessed the unification of various fragmented tribes of Saudi Arabia into one government. This meant that environmental planning and management moved from local/regional towards a national control. This investigation proposes that the local/regional planning and management practised by the tribes could be viably utilized today. As in the past, the implementation of these practices could protect the natural environment of the locality and region and regularize their exploitation rationally, as long as vernacular people implement them. Today environmental planning and management need to be based on strategies of local requirements that enable the indigenous people to plan and manage the use of the resources.     

Planning & urban change in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has undergone revolutionary change to its economy since 1973, followed more recently by serious economic problems. The largely peripheral effects of urban planning upon the transformation of Jeddah from medieval town to international city are considered. The main urban problems and opportunities facing the city are identified, and the paper concludes with a question against the relevance of ‘Western’ notions of planning to another culture undergoing dynamic urban change.     

Aerial photographs: their use in guiding pilgrims and pointers for developing countries

The problems faced by authorities in Saudi Arabia in managing the large numbers of pilgrims visiting Muna during a brief period each year has led to experiments with aerial photography and computer techniques. This paper describes briefly the new method initiated in 1981 emphasising the remarkably short time available for information assembly and interpretation and concludes with pointers towards the development of the techniques for Third World urbanisation studies.     

Policy and Practice

Saudi Arabia has recently begun to implement its General Environmental Regulations. The main purpose is to ensure that environmental considerations are taken into account at all levels of planning with an emphasis on incorporating EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) into development activities. However, there is a need to develop a broad framework of SEA (Strategic Environmental Assessment) for the proper integration of sustainability into decision‐making processes. This paper reviews and discusses a framework for ensuring sustainability in Saudi Arabia, particularly at the local level. The paper develops guidelines and a framework for implementing the principles of sustainability in Saudi municipalities through SEA.     

城市绿化规划研究初探--以长沙市雨花区为例

城市绿化规划是城市生态规划的基本内容。本文以长沙市雨花区为例，运用景观生态学原理，分析了城市绿地系统建设存在的问题，提出了城市生态绿地系统规划的基本内容和生态对策，可为一些城市的生态建设提供参考依据。     

NUMERICAL MODELING OF SOLUTE TRANSPORT PATTERNS IN THE DAMMAM AQUIFER1

ABSTRACT: During the past two decades, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has witnessed rapid development in its agricultural and urban areas, which has resulted in greater reliance being placed on its ground water aquifers. The intensive development, particularly along the coastline and in the absence of adequate replenishment sources, has led to major deterioration in the quality and quantity of ground water resources. A numerical model of the Dammam aquifer in the Eastern Province is developed and used to predict the extent of the saline intrusion in the aquifer. The types of stresses effecting the solute transport were identified and remedial measures were suggested. (KEY TERMS: numerical modeling; Saudi Arabia; aquifer; modeling/statistics.)     

Interaction Between the Environment and Animals in Urban Settings: Integrated and Participatory Planning

In urban ecosystems, the ecological system has become completely unbalanced; this, in turn, has led to an increase in well-known problems such as air pollution, ground pollution, and water pollution. This imbalance has also led to the growth and spread of pathogens harmful to man, animals, and plants. Urban sustainability indicators, both global and local, also “indicate” the percentage of population, but these refer only to the human population, not the animal population. Cities need good waste, water, and air management, effective traffic planning, and good zoning of businesses, crafts, and services; over and above these activities, cities also need for planning to take into account the existence of pets (dogs, cats, and etc.) and nonpet animals (insects, birds, mice, etc.). Cities tend to be designed around humans and “on a human scale,” without taking into account the fact that a huge animal population is living side by side with people. That explains why overcrowding tends to go hand in hand with urbanization; all these populations, including humans, need to adapt to new spaces and often need to drastically change their behavior. This is a fact that must be included when drafting sustainable city plans. The supposed strategy is that of “integrated-participatory” control of the interactions between the environment and animals in the cities. Strategy will focus on the development of integrated approaches and tools for environment and animal management in the context of urban settings. This will require such specific methods as ecological balance sheets and ecoplans for the planning, management, and control of the interrelation among environment, animal, and public health. The objective is to develop a better understanding of urban biodiversity and of urban ecosystem functioning, in order to understand and minimize the negative impacts of human activities on them. The research will focus on assessing and forecasting changes in urban biodiversity, structure, function, and dynamics of urban ecosystems, with relationships among society, economy, biodiversity, and habitats.     

GIS-based urban sustainability assessment: The case of Dammam city, Saudi Arabia

This paper applies an integrated approach to assessing urban sustainability in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia. The approach, based on geographic information systems (GIS), involves the evaluation of the planning process, the master plan and the land use activities resulting from planning. It concludes that some aspects of sustainability are not addressed by the planning process and the plan document. The planning process and the plan document addressed economic sustainability issues more than social and environmental issues. The result of the GIS-based sustainability assessment of the study area produces similar findings. The paper develops a sustainable planning guidance and makes some recommendations based on the findings.     

STORMWATER HARVESTING IN THE URBAN WATERSHEDS OF ARID ZONES1

ABSTRACT: A representative city in an arid zone, such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is instrumented to determine the quantity and quality of storm runoff with a view to investigating the possibility of using it for industrial and agricultural purposes after appropriate treatments. In an urban watershed in the City of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, quantity and quality of storm runoff had been monitored for the past six years, and the average annual runoff that can be harvested was determined. The quality of runoff is well within the range of possible reuse schemes, most notably for restricted irrigation. Treatment schemes for the harvested water are proposed.     

Flanders’ urbanity — an outline

This article deals with Flanders’ urbanity. At the moment Flanders, a part of Belgium, is responsible for its own town and country planning. Nevertheless, today's picture of urbanity is, for the greatest part, the result of Belgian policy. The results are nothing to be proud of. In fact Flanders has no urbanity anymore, nor a real rurality. Everywhere in the countryside there are houses and other constructions; on the other hand and consequently the centres of cities and villages are in decay. The following text tries to draw, very briefly, the problems and the development of the problems in urban and rural Flanders. The roots have to be searched in the 19th century, especially in the constitution of Belgium, which is one of the most liberal on earth. The first part of the article is dealing with the history of urbanisation, whilst the second part deals with some recent evolutions in housing and housing policy, in employment and employment policy, in transport and transport policy. Finally, the third part is concerned with the town and country planning which has to structure the developments in spatial use for housing, industrial building and so on, but which has failed.     

Methodological considerations in forecasting Saudi Arabian economic growth

The author surveys a number of factors responsible for Saudi Arabian economic growth and concludes that, contrary to popular belief, the petroleum sectors have had more than just a short-run transitory stimulating impact on the domestic economy. It appears that changes in the level of exports (and resulting government expenditures) have a number of impacts on the non-oil sector of the economy which take some time for their full effect to be felt. Government expenditures have become somewhat independent of current oil exports, so the current oil glut and falling revenues for Saudi Arabia are not likely to be translated into slower non-oil income growth.     

Resource management as a key factor for sustainable urban planning

Due to fast urbanization and increasing living standards, the environmental sustainability of our global society becomes more and more questionable. In this historical review we investigate the role of resources management (RM) and urban planning (UP) and propose ways for integration in sustainable development (SD). RM follows the principle of circular causation, and we reflect on to what extent RM has been an element for urban planning. Since the existence of the first settlements, a close relationship between RM, urbanization and technological development has been present. RM followed the demand for urban resources like water, energy, and food. In history, RM has been fostered by innovation and technology developments and has driven population growth and urbanization. Recent massive resource demand, especially in relation to energy and material flows, has altered natural ecosystems and has resulted in environmental degradation. UP has developed separately in response to different questions. UP followed the demand for improved living conditions, often associated to safety, good manufacturing and trading conditions and appropriate sanitation and waste management. In history UP has been a developing research area, especially since the industrial era and the related strong urbanization at the end of the 18th century. UP responded to new emerging problems in urban areas and became increasingly complex. Nowadays, UP has to address many objectives that are often conflicting, including, the urban sustainability. Our current urban un-sustainability is rooted in massive resource consumption and waste production beyond natural limits, and the absence of flows from waste to resources. Therefore, sustainable urban development requires integration of RM into UP. We propose new ways to this integration.     

OPTIMAL MANAGEMENT OF A REGIONAL AQUIFER IN EASTERN SAUDI ARABIA1

ABSTRACT: This paper describes the formulation and application of a ground-water hydraulic management model to determine the optimal development and operating policies of a regional aquifer in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The hydraulic response of the aquifer system is represented by a simulation model that is linked to an optimization management model using response functions. Yearly optimal ground-water extraction rates over a planning horizon of 15 years are determined for four scenarios, each reflecting alternative ground-water development policies. The results are presented in the form of tradeoff curves, relating drawdowns to optimal pumpage, which may enhance the decisionmaker's ability to select the best development policy from a set of alternatives. The results illustrate how various optimal management schemes can be devised to increase the total withdrawal from the aquifer while preventing excessive de-watering.     

Practicalities of participation in urban IWRM: Perspectives of wastewater management in two cities in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh

As the demand for water in cities increases, the quantity of wastewater being produced is growing at a phenomenal rate. If resources are to be managed effectively, a new paradigm is required for urban wastewater management. This paper reviews the initial findings of a participatory action planning process for managing wastewater for agricultural use. It finds that such processes need considerable facilitation, capacity building and knowledge sharing, but that if a plan can be devised that meets the needs of the stakeholders, even if some compromise is required, then certain stakeholders are likely to take responsibility for specific aspects. This may not meet the entire integrated water resources management (IWRM) vision of the plan but provided the plan is developed in such a way that incremental implementation will be beneficial then this will produce some success and may stimulate further cooperation.     

Policy And Practice Environmental Policies in Saudi Arabia

The experience of Saudi Arabia in environmental policies is relatively recent. However, the Government has established policy direction and administrative bodies to carry out its policy proposals. This endeavour to construct a framework for environmental policies has been hindered by several obstacles. The paper assesses government efforts in this field by reviewing environmental policy documents, the environmental administrative structure and the environmental decision-making process. A background of environmental policies and legislation is given in addition to categories of environmental agencies.     

Using Land-use Planning to Manage Transport Demand: a survey of Scottish experience

Recent concerns surrounding the growth of mobility and associated increases in journey length and number of motorised journeys for an increasingly diverse pattern of trips have placed demands on the planning system in terms of the need to consider the land use-transport interaction. This paper first provides a review of relevant national planning policy in Scotland in particular. It then goes on to report findings from a recent survey which highlights the attitudes held by Scottish planning professionals to managing transport demand through land-use planning. The paper outlines the trade-offs encountered in practice between competing policy objectives. In Scotland there is no planning guidance equivalent to Planning Policy Guidance Note 13, which applies to England and Wales, around which there has been much debate on its impact on development control decisions and planning strategy. Draft guidance for Scotland was produced in 1996 for consultation and again in 1998, but at the time of writing has yet to be finalised. The findings from this study are timely in that they enable an assessment of the extent to which the planning system is being used to manage transport demand. Recent local government reorganisation in Scotland has resulted in significant changes to ways in which strategic planning and development control policy are likely to proceed. The paper focuses on the extent to which local authority policy emphasises the need to reduce travel through planning.     

Using Land-use Planning to Manage Transport Demand: A survey of Scottish experience

Recent concerns surrounding the growth of mobility and associated increases in journey length and number of motorised journeys for an increasingly diverse pattern of trips have placed demands on the planning system in terms of the need to consider the land use-transport interaction. This paper first provides a review of relevant national planning policy in Scotland in particular. It then goes on to report findings from a recent survey which highlights the attitudes held by Scottish planning professionals to managing transport demand through land-use planning. The paper outlines the trade-offs encountered in practice between competing policy objectives. In Scotland there is no planning guidance equivalent to Planning Policy Guidance Note 13, which applies to England and Wales, around which there has been much debate on its impact on development control decisions and planning strategy. Draft guidance for Scotland was produced in 1996 for consultation and again in 1998, but at the time of writing has yet to be finalised. The findings from this study are timely in that they enable an assessment of the extent to which the planning system is being used to manage transport demand. Recent local government reorganisation in Scotland has resulted in significant changes to ways in which strategic planning and development control policy are likely to proceed. The paper focuses on the extent to which local authority policy emphasises the need to reduce travel through planning.     

The US freshwater supply shortage: Experiences with desalination as part of the solution

Parts of the USA are facing impending shortages of freshwater. One proposed solution is the construction of desalination plants to turn seawater into freshwater. Although seawater desalination plants are widely used in the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia, there are few desalination plants in the USA. In 2003, Tampa Bay Water built the largest desalination plant in North America. Persistent operating problems and escalating costs have caused the utility to re-evaluate its reliance on the seawater desalination plant as part of a long-term regional water supply strategy. In addition, environmental effects of the plant are uncertain. Advances in reverse osmosis technology have significantly reduced desalination costs. However, desalination of seawater is still more expensive than other freshwater supply sources and demand management measures. With time and research, seawater desalination may prove to be a sustainable, cost-effective source of new freshwater supplies, especially if plants are coupled with renewable energy sources. Until then, the development of small-scale groundwater desalination plants, the re-use of water, water conservation, and a more efficient allocation of water through higher prices and rising block rates will be important strategies in meeting growing water demand. Moreover, it is important to improve the coordination between water supply planning and land use planning as populations continue to increase.     

INTEGRATING SOCIAL ANALYSIS INTO WATER RESOURCES PLANNING: SOME EMERGING TRENDS IN THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS1

ABSTRACT: While federal water resources laws and regulations require social analysis, no one workable formula exists for integrating it into water resources planning. Two primary problems in integrating social analysis into planning are examined; making trade-offs between policy acceptability and theoretical competence, and managing social analysis in planning. For illustration, the article builds on emerging trends within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It concludes by observing that creative application of social theory to policy problems along with innovative data gathering techniques are the primary routes to managing these problems.     

Natural resource planning: An urban prospective

The use and development of natural resources is becoming a critical concern, especially considering the economic development and stability of the world money market. The question here is one of resources as a political weapon. As resources become more scarce, it becomes necessary to make greater intensive use of resources that are presently available. One dimension that has been missing is the development of urban areas. Resources in this domain have been abused and the question now is how to incorporate these types of decisions into land-use planning to refurbish urban areas. Planning is the key to use of a resource. The world can no longer afford crisis planning. The key dimension to future success in resource problems is preventive planning.