GIS-based urban sustainability assessment: The case of Dammam city, Saudi Arabia
HABIB M. ALSHUWAIKHAT & YUSUF A. AINA
King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Local Environment Vol. 11, No. 2, 141–161, April 2006
Abstract
This paper applies an integrated approach to assessing urban sustainability in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia. The approach, based on geographic information systems (GIS), involves the evaluation of the planning process, the master plan and the land use activities resulting from planning. It concludes that some aspects of sustainability are not addressed by the planning process and the plan document. The planning process and the plan document addressed economic sustainability issues more than social and environmental issues. The result of the GIS-based sustainability assessment of the study area produces similar findings. The paper develops a sustainable planning guidance and makes some recommendations based on the findings. Abstract This paper applies an integrated approach to assessing urban sustainability in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia. The approach, based on geographic information systems (GIS), involves the evaluation of the planning process, the master plan and the land use activities resulting from planning. It concludes that some aspects of sustainability are not addressed by the planning process and the plan document. The planning process and the plan document addressed economic sustainability issues more than social and environmental issues. The result of the GIS-based sustainability assessment of the study area produces similar findings. The paper develops a sustainable planning guidance and makes some recommendations based on the findings.
Concluding Remarks
This paper has attempted to develop a holistic framework for evaluating urban sustainability. The framework incorporates the assessment of the planning process, the outcome of the planning process (the plan) and the result of the process (land use activities). The framework is applied in a case study to assess the sustainability of Dammam city through a GISbased approach. The approach assesses the sustainability of the city based on spatial and numerical indicators. The planning process and the master plan are also evaluated. The evaluation of the planning process shows that the integration of sustainability in plan making at Dammam is still at the traditional level and there is limited public participation. The GIS-based evaluation shows that some aspects of urban sustainability need to be addressed in Dammam. Issues related to economic sustainability are addressed more than social and environmental issues.
At this juncture, it is pertinent to note that the results from the analysis have to be interpreted with caution, since only the core of Dammam is considered in the study. It is well known that city centres sometimes have the highest employment opportunities and access to essential facilities. City centres also have the highest density of residential development. Simple buffer analysis which returns the maximum level of accessibility was used by the study. A more rigorous buffer analysis might yield different results. Another point is that the study did not assess the capacity of facilities in relation to the served population in the accessibility analysis. The study assessed only access to the facilities by the populace; if the capacities of the facilities are considered, the result might be different. In addition, some of the data used for the assessment are estimated from the master plan and might be different from the actual situation in the study area. Nevertheless, the sustainability trends indicated by the overall result are valid and could be very relevant to sustainable planning in Dammam.
The paper has demonstrated the importance of the spatial dimension in urban sustainability through GIS analysis. It also shows the need for accurate and current data in such analysis. Sustainability assessment is a data-intensive exercise whose great benefits could be highly undermined by inadequate data. Further studies could be carried out in the study area to make a detail analysis of the measured indicators, such as a study of the capacities of the social facilities in relation to the number of people within their service areas. Urban dynamics modelling tools (such as Cellular Automata) could be used by future studies to analyse and model spatial changes in the study area and their impacts on sustainability. Also, future studies can examine the possibility of quantitatively assessing the sustainability of the master/development plan. The following recommendations are made from this study on improving the sustainability of the planning process, the plan document and the land use activities in the study area:
. Sustainability goals and objectives should be developed for the planning process and the plan document.
. The centralized institutional framework is a constraint on public participation and the involvement of the local authority. The municipal council should play greater role in the planning process.
. One of the constraints of the planning process is the lack of sustainable planning guidance. The General Environment Code does not provide guidance on ensuring sustainable planning (especially at the municipality level). The code should be revised to include a framework ensuring that sustainability principles are integrated into planning.
. More consideration should be given to environmental dimensions in the planning process and the plan document. . The level of public participation should be improved by addressing the constraints on public participation. The issues to be addressed include the level of environmental awareness of the citizens, accessibility of the populace to environmental assessment reports, and a framework for public participation in the planning process.
. A system of sustainable indicators and targets should be developed for the planning process, and adequate data and information collection system should be put in place to make necessary data available for sustainable planning.
. The system of plan implementation should be improved, especially in the aspect of the implementation of sustainability programmes such as public transit.
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