Jeddah's slum areas: the attempt to redevelop Al-Nuzla Al-Yamania

The Jeddah’s municipality has established a large development project, with a total budget of SR 200 billion (53 billion US Dollar), to modernize “slums” areas. The paper investigates the impact of modernization in Saudi Arabia in general, and Jeddah in particular. As the study reveals,, the high rate of modernization has been a prime cause for the emergence of “slums” in the city. While the role of traditional constructions was marginalized, the modern style of buildings was imported without its components. Consequently, local people created their own modernity, building their houses with a mixture of local and foreign elements of constructions. Today, these houses are called “slums.” Delving into the issue, I studied how Al-Nuzlah Al-Yamniah neighborhood was established and how modernization transformed into today’s neighborhood. Particular attention was paid to the cultural dimension Al-Nuzlah’s people, particularly how they created their spaces and changed it to fit their needs, and how they react, deal with, and negotiate the municipality’s redevelopment proposal. Finally, the paper recommends that the municipality pays significant attention to the local culture in Al-Nuzla Al-Yamania, especially how and why they create their spaces and adopt a bottom-up approach to improve the livelihoods of people than displace them through another round of modernization.