City Prosperity Indicators (CPI):

The intent is that with UN-Habitat’s principles of sustainable urbanization and the Cities Prosperity Index as entry-points, Saudi cities will be capacitated to look at their cities in a more inclusive and multi-dimensional way, addressing prosperity across six dimensions: productivity, infrastructure, quality of life, equity, environmental sustainable urban form and structure, and institutions, laws and governance.
Two streams of activities in the programme are intended to lead to informed policy analysis and a set of 17 action plans (one per participating city), namely:

I. Identification of indicators and city-level data collection on multiple dimensions of prosperity, using UN-Habitat’s CPI;
II. Reviews of existing Saudi planning practices and consideration of principles and approaches to a new urban agenda.
The participatory processes built into the programme will result in “inclusive, evidence-based policy analysis and customized action plans”, in direct support of Country Program Outcome 1.2. The data generated will feed into 17 national reports and the Flagship State of Saudi Cities Report. These sets of information will also feed into the Saudi national reporting to Habitat III. The programme includes youth and gender-specific indicators within the CPI across the 17 cities with the goal of determining a baseline on the needs of these population groups.

Orientation Workshops on CPI:

The aim of the workshops have been for participants to acquire improved knowledge about the urban challenges facing Saudi cities, and develop a greater understanding about the requirements for developing and applying the CPI through the FSCP. Sessions highlighted the importance of information for city planning and urban management, showing practical examples of cities, including those using the CPI, that have successfully addressed issues such as economic development, public transport, urban revitalization, urban environmental management, and urban planning strategies through more evidence-based policies to enhance the performance of cities.

Gap Evaluation:

The study of training and institutional needs started through sending off the capacity-building experts into short assignments and to the head department of capacity –building. The programme has already met with several officers in the ministry of municipal and rural affairs, major municipal departments, ministry of planning and universities. A primary report on the evaluation of needs of and the gap evaluation in the capacity building at the city level and the national level were prepared. The main goal is to raise awareness amongst 178 specialists in the municipal and planning issues, the experts of urban observatories in cities, ministries, and the local consultants, universities faculties, and the private sector.