REVIEW & LESSONS: NATIONAL SPATIAL STRATEGY. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The study seeks to provide evidence-based inputs for the review of the National Spatial Strategy (NSS) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The methodology is based on three criteria that assesses the content (relevance), process (integration) and results (effectiveness) of the NSS. The review is informed by lessons learnt from international experiences which are available in Annex. Five case studies on national spatial frameworks were analyzed, namely, Republic of Korea, Germany, Malaysia, Morocco and China. The key challenge identified is the insufficient uptake of the NSS due to lack of a coordinated approach as well as lack of awareness. To increase the uptake of NSS by relevant ministries, utilities and the regions, the study advocates for more dialogue and integration among urban stakeholders across sectors and spatial scales. The development of a fully-fledged National Urban Policy emerges as the way forward to address the root causes of integration challenges faced in NSS uptake and implementation.