Cultural and Recreational Facilities
in Riyadh over 100 Years
Dr. Ghazi S. Al-Abasi
Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture & building Science, College of Architecture & Planning, King Saud University
(Received June 20, 2002 Accepted July 24, 2002)
Abstract:
This study focuses on the cultural and recreational facilities in Riyadh over the past century and follows up with their growth. During this period, Riyadh has developed from a small town with limited facilities -similar to any traditional Najdi village- to a large city that incorporates multiple recreational facilities distributed throughout the city. However, it is very important to follow up with this vast development by classifying these facilities into five main types, and to subdivide this long period into smaller periods, where the development stages of Riyadh can be measured accordingly. Riyadh has started its first facility with Alfotah Park in 1356h. These facilities kept increasing in different forms until they totaled up to 2150 facilities by the end of the latest stage, which marked the centennial anniversary of the capture of Riyadh. These facilities consist of 72 educational centers, 135 cultural centers, 50 recreation centers, 1520 sport centers and 430 parks. These facilities cover an area of 51,270,000 m2, which makes 14 squared meters per person. By comparing this data with the data from some international and national cities using computer software, it was found that Riyadh did not reach the standard of European and American cities, but it scored an average result compared to Saudi cities. Furthermore, the variety of facility types was not evenly distributed. For example, number of parks needs to be increased compared to the number of sport facilities.
The significance of this study stems from the fact that it follows up with the growth of these facilities over one hundred years, and ties that growth with the development phases of the city. Also, the study categorizes and compares these facilities with each other and within other cities nationally and internationally. In addition, it highlights each person's share of these facilities. This study provides factual picture of the condition of these facilities in order to come up with recommendations to develop and maintain them. Moreover, this paper will provide a primary material in this field, which will be a good reference for researchers in the future.
المرافق الثقافية والترويحية
في مدينة الرياض خلال مائة عام
