Human-centred public urban space: exploring how the ‘re-humanisation’ of cities as a universal concept has been adopted and is experienced within the socio-cultural context of Riyadh

ABSTRACT

Universal concepts in spatial planning, e.g. ‘re-humanisation’ of cities, have been adopted by many cities worldwide. However, spatial planning cannot be understood independently from its socio-cultural context. This paper uses the ‘culturized planning model’ to analyse the extent to which the application of universal spatial assumptions as an approach to Riyadh’s municipal programme, Humanizing the City, has created inclusive urban environments. The paper shows that relying solely on universal guidelines to achieve urban qualities was insufficient for creating inclusive public spaces. Gender norms and religious traditions influenced the provision of public space by reproducing gender-segregation, which contributed to women’s exclusion.

KEYWORDS:

• Human-centred urban space
• planning cultures
• gender norms
• spatial exclusion
• Saudi Arabia

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to gratefully thank all interviewees from Riyadh Municipality, especially the Former Mayor, Prince Dr. Abdulaziz bin Ayyaf for providing useful information, reflections, and access to data sources about the municipality programme. The contents of this paper reflect the view of authors, who are responsible for the facts and accuracy of the data presented.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplemental material

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Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Sharia Law is a set of regulations, which are derived from the religious precepts of Islam and which govern everyday life and behaviour.

2. The Islamic Awakening (Al–Sahwa Al-Islamiyya) is a worldwide movement, which emerged in the 1970s/1980s. It is against the wave of modernisation, which was seen as a process of ‘westernising’ Muslim countries. Thus, the Sahwa movement seeks the ‘re-Islamisation’ of societies (Al-Ghathami 2004; Al-Khidr 2010).

3. Although the power of the religious police in Saudi Arabia was reduced by a royal decree in April 2016, they are still able to enforce gender segregation and other religious laws by reporting cases to the local police department (Zorthian 2016).

4. The guiding questions/themes meant to assist and facilitate the discussion. Hence, discussions were not only limited to these questions or themes only.

5. A reference list of all reviewed studies, newspaper articles, and policy documents is included in the appendices.

6. As of 24 June 2018, women have been allowed to drive cars in Saudi Arabia.

7. Municipal council is a half-elected advisory board with limited decision-making powers on local and municipal issues. In 2005, Saudi Arabia started its first elections for the municipal councils and Islamists won the majority (Kapiszewski 2006).

8. Muhtasibeen are conservative religious men who work voluntarily to ensure that public business and behaviour are conducted in accordance with sharia law.

9. On 29 September 2017, Saudi Arabia announced a new anti-harassment law to be implemented and enforced 60 days after its announcement (arabnews 2017).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University; formerly known as University of Dammam, under [grant number 17217].