The Role of Urban Transformation in Saudi Arabia’s Nation-building: The Case of al-Balad, Jeddah

Authors

  • Author

  • Rufei Li

Keywords:

Jeddah, al-Balad, Saudi Culture, Nation-building

Abstract

The built environment of Jeddah’s Historic District, known as al-Balad, has undergone significant transformations since the mid-19th century, shaped by several rounds of conservation. Drawing on fieldwork and existing scholarship, this article argues that the urban transformation of al-Balad is the outcome of state- building and nation-building processes in Saudi Arabia. In turn, al- Balad ’s transformation has deeply impacted Saudi Arabiaʼs nation-building. Although the rapid modernization and urbanization process sidelined serious efforts to conserve al-Balad , triggering profound changes in the district, the renewed emphasis on national identity and the rise of an indigenous “Saudi” culture in the early 21st century has repositioned al-Balad from a site of socio-economic changes into a source of cultural symbols.

References

  1. For a contemporary record, see: Tawfiq M. Abu Ghazzeh, “Built Form and Religion: Underlying Structures of Jeddah Al-Qademah,” Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review , vol. 5, no. 2 (Spring 1994), pp. 49-59.
  2. On the rise of Saudi nationalism, see: Madawi Al-Rasheed, The Son King: Reform and Repression in Saudi Arabia (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021), pp. 154-174. From the government’s side, the establishment of the Ministry of Culture by dividing the old Ministry of Culture and Information and the former’s task with releasing annual report on “the state of culture” demonstrates the kingdom’s increased concern with this realm. See the 2019 and 2020 reports as examples: Ministry of Culture, Report on the State of Culture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2019: Facts and Figures (Riyadh, 2020); Ministry of Culture, Taqrīr al-Ḥāla al-Thaqāfiyya fī al-Mamlaka al-ʿArabiyya al-Suʿūdiyya 2020: Raqmanat al-Thaqāfa (Riyadh, 2021).
  3. “About Us,” Jeddah Historic District (2024), accessed on 28/8/2024, at: https://bit.ly/4dYknae
  4. Hanadi Eid Al-Harbi & Samirah Saad Al-Saleh, “al-Āthār al-Siyāḥiyya lil-Muqawwimāt al-Tārīkhiyya fī Madīnat Jidda,” Majallat al-ʿUlum al- Insaniyya wa-l-Ijtimaʿiyyah , vol. 5, no. 15 (December 2021), pp. 104-119.
  5. Ulrike Freitag, A History of Jeddah: The Gate to Mecca in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020), pp. 339, 363.
  6. Abdelaziz Elfadaly, “Cultural Heritage Management Using Remote Sensing Data and GIS Techniques around the Archaeological Area of Ancient Jeddah in Jeddah City, Saudi Arabia,” Sustainability , vol. 12 (2020), pp. 1-15; Mohammed Aloshan et al., “Strategies for the Preservation of Historic Areas within Existing Middle Eastern Cities: The Case of Historic Jeddah,” Buildings , vol. 14, no. 3 (March 2024), pp. 1-21.
  7. Mohammed Abubaker A. Bagader, “The Evolution of Built Heritage Conservation Policies in Saudi Arabia between 1970 and 2015: The Case of Historic Jeddah,” PhD Thesis, University of Manchester, Manchester, 2016.
  8. Jörg Matthias Determann, Historiography in Saudi Arabia: Globalization and the State (London: I.B. Tauris, 2014), p. 111.
  9. Rosie Bsheer, Archive Wars: The Politics of History in Saudi Arabia (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2020), pp. 141-145.
  10. For a more detailed account, see: Steffen Hertog, Princes, Brokers, and Bureaucrats: Oil and the State in Saudi Arabia (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2010), pp. 10-12.
  11. As mentioned before, Rosie Bsheer’s study on Riyadh and Mecca has demonstrated the validity of this approach. See: Bsheer, pp. 141-145, 172-190.
  12. The author intended to conduct interviews with senior government officials in charge of the Historic Jeddah project and Saudi scholars specialized in the transformation of Jeddah. However, initial emails did not receive any reply.
  13. For the history of Al Saud’s conquest of the Hijaz, see: Madawi Al-Rasheed, A History of Saudi Arabia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), pp. 37-45.
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  19. Nelida Fuccaro, “Visions of the City: Urban Studies on the Gulf,” Middle East Studies Association Bulletin , vol. 35, no. 2 (Winter 2001), p. 181. Source: Allies & Morrison, “Al-Balad: Public Realm Strategy and Design Manual,” jeddahalbalad, pp. 20-21, accessed 15/1/2025, at: https://acr.ps/1L9zRdd
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  25. Quoted in: Yamani, p. 54.
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  28. Al-Rasheed, The Son King , pp. 164-174.
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  31. By 1978, the metropolitan area of Jeddah covered 1,215 square kilometers, with 97 square kilometers developed. A 1974 census indicates that city population stood at 561,104. See: Fadil, p. 70.
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  35. Quoted in: Al-Lyaly, p. 49.
  36. Bagader, “Evolution,” p. 111.
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  40. Duncan, p. 229. Source: Photo by the author at Al Tayebat International City Museum. Source: Photo by the author at Al Tayebat International City Museum.
  41. This can be observed in the names of government entities. In 2000, the Saudi government established the Supreme Commission of Tourism (SCT), which is primarily responsible for tourism. After King Abdullah ascended to the throne, the Commission was merged with the former Agency of Antiquities and Museums in 2008 and renamed as the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), which was subsequently renamed the Saudi General Authority for Tourism and National Heritage in 2015. For an account of the regional development, see: C. Michael Hall & Siamak Seyfi (eds.), Cultural and Heritage Tourism in the Middle East and North Africa: Complexities, Management and Practices (London/ New York: Routledge, 2021), pp. 14-23.
  42. Mohammad Abubaker A. Bagader, “The Impacts of UNESCO’s Built Heritage Conservation Policy (2010-2020) on Historic Jeddah Built Environment,” WTI Transactions on the Built Environment , vol. 177 (2018), p. 2.
  43. Bagader, “Evolution,” p. 255.
  44. Bagader, “Impacts,” p. 2.
  45. “About Us,” Jeddah Historic District (2024), accessed on 28/8/2024, at: https://bit.ly/4dYknae Source: Photo by author, August 2024.
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  47. Al-Rasheed, The Son King , pp. 164-174.
  48. The approach offered by Steffen Wippel may help in clarifying the matter, see: Steffen Wippel (ed.), Branding the Middle East: Communication Strategies and Image Building from Qom to Casablanca (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2023), pp. 100-103.
  49. For example: “Nassif House,” Saudipedia , accessed on 19/10/2024, at: https://bit.ly/3UeiXRw
  50. Fuccaro, p. 181.
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