Spatial–temporal analysis of urban growth and transportation in Jeddah City, Saudi Arabia

During the past decades, the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia has witnessed dramatic changes in its urban area, population and transportation. To better understand the relationship between urban growth and transportation, this paper aims to quantify and analyze the spatial–temporal relationship between urban growth and transportation for Jeddah using Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) approaches. In this paper, eight urban growth and transportation indices were developed to analyze the relationship between spatial–temporal urban growth and transportation changes: (1) annual urban spatial expansion index, (2) land use change index, (3) population density index, (4) transportation infrastructure expansion index, (5) road density index, (6) road area density index, (7) urban trips density index, and (8) modal split change index. The results show that in the past four decades (1964–2007), Jeddah has experienced a rapid population growth, a large spatial expansion, rapidly changing land use and expanding transportation infrastructure. As transportation infrastructure expands with population growth, this expansion has not been able to accommodate increases in travel demand. This has led to an increase in urban congestion. The analysis further shows that transportation infrastructure expansion has stimulated Jeddah’s urban spatial expansion and residential area growth. The enormous spatial expansion has also caused significant changes in the daily share of travel modes. The developed indicators in the paper bridge the knowledge gap between urban growth and transportation research, as the results of this study provide a rich understanding of the relationship between urban growth and transportation in rapidly growing cities.

► Eight indicators were defined and analysed to study urban growth and transport in Jeddah.
► These indicators bridge the knowledge gap in urban growth and transport research.
► Road expansion was shown to catalyze urban expansion and residential growth.
► Population growth has caused travel demand and spatial expansion to rise.
► The results improve understanding of the relationship between urban growth and transportation infrastructure.