La igualdad de género en la escuela mixta

Abdulaal and Aziz-Alrahman (1998) show a basic knowledge of SDSP in Saudi cities.

These authors’ research was based on work of three consultants: GACDAR, Sert Jackson, and SpearPlan and Koshak. These consultants have worked on updating the master plans of Madina, Jeddah, and Taif. They describe the land development process in the three cities by using event-sequence models. Despite the criticism associated with such models in the literature, their description of the land development process offers a

Chapter Three: Subdivision Control and Land Subdivision Development Process in the Saudi Arabian Context

useful vocabulary for development activity, although not a comprehensive analysis of the process (Abdulaal and Aziz-Alrahman, 1998). The consultants’ studies gave a similar account of the SDSP, which includes three stages: land provision, land improvement, and building construction.

3.5.2.1 Land Provision

The process through which undeveloped land is brought into the land market was described in Section 3.5.1.

3.5.2.2 Land Improvement

Land improvement includes two important successive stages, instigated by land subdivision, followed by construction of infrastructure and ultimately housing units.

3.5.2.3 Land Subdivision

As mentioned in Chapter 1, the practice of land subdivision in KSA started in 1930 when the Arabian-American Oil Company (ARAMCO) developed a number of plans in the eastern region cities. Soon after, the same conventional concept of the plan was applied in other Saudi cities. Large areas of land have been subdivided into blocks and small plots in preparation for urbanisation. Land subdivision has become the main process by which raw land is brought into urban land and enters into the land market (Abdulaal, 1990). According to Abdulaal (1987), land subdivision in KSA is practised by both the public and private sector. The public sector’s land subdivision results from the land grants policy. Public land is subdivided and granted to individuals with limited income who have applied for land grants. The private sector is the most dominant sector for land subdivision practices in KSA, and often subdivision results from landowner interest in the growing land market. To subdivide land, the developer should have a permit from the municipality. According to Edrees:

Land subdivision for private-owned land requires a written statement to the head of the secretariat or the Municipality, indicating the location and the type of subdivision required (residential, commercial or industrial), with ownership document attached. If the ownership document is approved, the land is suitable for subdivision and the land is

Context

within the urban growth boundary, the go-ahead is then given to the owner to prepare a schematic subdivision plan (2001:120).

To prepare a schematic subdivision plan, the developer should follow the SR requirements to secure approval and then to move forward with the land subdivision.

Two important steps in the process of a land subdivision scheme must be followed by the developer. The first is to connect the proposed plan with the surrounding residential areas and with the major road network. The next is to provide 33% of the land area for public services and community facilities (there is no rule to control this percentage, but it is left to the landowner and usually it is covered only by the road area) (Abdulaal, 1987; Edrees, 2001; Alskait, 2003a). Once the municipality approves the subdivision plan, the sale of plots may begin, and land development activity begins (Abdulaal, 1990). The developer does not have any role after the plot sales process ends, so there are no after-sales services such as housing units, implementation of open space lots, or maintenance services.

3.5.2.4 Provision of Infrastructure

The provision of infrastructure is a public responsibility,¹¹ so owners of land subdivisions are usually not involved. The provision of services starts soon after subdivision, but this is a theoretical assumption rather than a description of reality.

Usually the supply of services takes place after development has occurred, especially in suburban locations. The process takes years to connect the main infrastructure services such as electricity, water, and telephones (Abdulaal, 1997; Abdulaal and Aziz-Alrahman, 1998).

3.5.2.5 Building Construction

The building construction stage begins when the land is subdivided into blocks and plots, and is considered the final stage in the process. For construction to take place, it is safe to assume that all the plots have been sold to individual owners. All sold plots will be developed regardless of the owner’s wishes, motivations for acquisition, and financial ability to start development (Abdulaal, 1987; Abdulaal and Aziz-Alrahman, 1998).

11 Most service providers are public, although some utility networks such as water, telephone, and electricity are private sector; in the last ten years those services have been privatised by the government.

Chapter Three: Subdivision Control and Land Subdivision Development Process in the Saudi Arabian Context

In practice, the housing construction may not be the final stage because services such as mosques, schools, parks and other amenities are perhaps provided after the buildings have been completely constructed. Housing construction itself may take years to finish, particularly when carried out by the individual plots’ owners. Alskait discovered in Riyadh that:

almost every prospective home owner develops his own house acting as an owner, contractor, and consultant at the same time. This results in fragmented houses developed by different owners at different intervals of time. It takes, in many cases, up to thirty years for a whole subdivision to fully develop. […] Due to the length of development the subdivision becomes a factory for building houses. The final outcome is a residential area which lacks the true sense of a community (2003a:44).

The fragmentation in construction appears to create divisions among neighbours and neighbourhoods, who do not always act collectively.