Impacts of large-scale residential projects on urban sustainability in Dammam Metropolitan Area, Saudi Arabia

Developing countries have been experiencing phenomenal urban growth within the last five decades, especially in urban areas. In fact, out of the anticipated 2.5 billion increase in world population by 2050, about 90% is expected to take place in just Asia and Africa. In Saudi Arabia, with urbanization rate of 83%, major cities are increasingly sprawling to carter for their increasing population. Dammam Metropolitan Area (DMA) is one of such cities that is witnessing the emergence of many large-scale residential development projects within the built-up areas and at the periphery. However, these projects have many implications on the sustainability of the built environmental. Based on review of official documents, maps and previous studies, this paper explores the nature, scale and unsustainable impacts of these projects. The present study found that there are 45 such projects covering about 32,807 ha of land in the study area, out of which about 11,740 hactares (or 35.8%) are infill into the Arabian Gulf. Other unsustainable features of these projects are exclusiveness, low density, single housing type and poor connectivity with the surroundings. The paper concludes with some recommendations towards sustainable urbanization in DMA.