Towards a paradigmatic model of post-oil development for oil-based economic countries of Arabian Peninsula [The New Specialized Economic Cities]

The thesis responds to the question of whether or not the planning approach of ‘New Specialized Economic Cities’ in Saudi Arabia can be proposed as a paradigmatic model of post-oil development for oil-based economic countries of Arabian Peninsula. And, if so, under what conditions? During the past decades the share of the oil sector in the national budget of oil-rich countries in the Arabian Peninsula was at a very high level. Despite the opportunities this income provides, such high levels of economic dependency on oil revenue has become a threat for their future. With dwindling oil reserves on one hand and the global oil price fluctuation on the other—which individually causes economic instability and social exclusion—have forced the central governments of these countries to search for post-oil alternatives, including spatial planning and urban solutions, with the aim to redesign their economic structure, shifting them from a unipolar model to a diversified approach. Studying the current economic landscape of oil-based economies in the region applying this economic diversification formula reveals the emirate-state of Dubai as the most successful case. This success has transformed Dubai into a major global city and thus a reference model of post-oil development for other oil-rich countries of the region. The spatial transformation, the employment of economic liberalization doctrine and regulation of investment-oriented policies have played a significant role in Dubai’s economic achievement. Nevertheless, while these strategies and action plans can, more or less, be tracked in other oil-based economies of the region, the exclusive employment landscape of Dubai has resulted in a higher level of growth than the others. This exclusivity, however, is the key obstacle in the process of applying the case of Dubai comprehensively as a paradigmatic model for developing countries in the region that intend to obtain a similar post-oil developmental path of growth. For this reason, the thesis navigated the urban solution that have been applied by other countries in the region, identified the planning approach and a cluster of new cities named by the Saudi Arabian government as “Economic Cities”. This cluster of new cities are referred to as “New Specialized Economic Cities” (NSECs) in this dissertation. This cluster of new cities creates a diversified composition of economic sectors by attracting the investments of both foreign and domestic sources and ultimately by linking to the specialized regional/global markets (which need both economic and spatial infrastructures). The thesis, by studying the institutional structure, planning and policy approach designed for the cluster of NSECs; the major resources of economic growth that considered in its defining process; together with the building status and implementation formulas that have been applied to build these urban agglomerations has attempted to answer the research question.