Promoting public space governance in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Undermanagement of the considerable range of areas reserved for public spaces within modern residential areas in Jeddah has not only reduced socialization for inhabitants, but has become a public burden that continues to prove a drain on urban life. This, in turn, has stimulated the development of regulatory and organizational reforms. The reforms have inexorably drawn all departments and agencies involved in public space management into a new field of responsibility. As they came into operation, new actors appeared in the field of public space management. Although the aim of the reforms was to resolve inter-municipal regulatory conflicts and to place a renewed emphasis on local and private actions as alternative sources of managerial control, the new public space governance arrangements are riddled with tension as a result of the multiplicity of actors and the absence of a well-defined institutional framework; this in turn led to greater confusion about responsibilities. This article attempts to understand the complexities of the ongoing management of public spaces in Jeddah in the light of recent theories of governance, with the aim of developing a conceptual framework that may suggest innovatory approaches through which to address these complexities. Broadly speaking, the investigation – which is based on extensive documentary analysis, a qualitative survey and systematic field observation – notes that, in order to tackle management issues such as non-responsiveness, bureaucratic rigidity, the fragmentation of responsibilities and so on, it is imperative to give further consideration to the role of legislation within an appropriate institutional framework.