Ontological pluralism in Saudi Arabia's sustainable urbanization framing

Abstract

Drawing on urbanization and counter-urbanization dialogues, this paper analyzes how urbanization shapes urban policy and economic opportunities as a way of understanding the ontological pluralism characterizing urban development in Saudi Arabia. Recent debates on urbanization in the global south frequently overlook the potential contribution of counter-urbanization narrative as many countries are undergoing an unprecedented level of urbanization. We use Saudi Arabian cities as a case study to illustrate how rapid urbanization can occur in an Arabian context without accompanying economic growth by analyzing population census data from 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020. By looking at urbanization and counter-urbanization processes, the paper shows that these processes are already influencing and shaping urban policy in Saudi Arabia. It then discusses the implications of the urbanization and counter-urbanization processes as defining traits of urban policy, and thereby consolidating theoretic and agentic understandings of urban sustainability.