Client: Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Municipality of the Governorate of Jeddah
Location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Area: Stucture Plan phase 11,200 ha, Masterplan phase 510 ha
Project Year: 2016 – 2017
Program: Jeddah South Corniche development
Tasks: Urban Plan, Concept Design, Developed Design, Technical Design
Credits: Images © 3C+t Capolei Cavalli Architetti Associati

The Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah is the second largest city in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The South Corniche Development Structure Plan for the city of Jeddah provides a general master plan setting out a vision for the site for the next 10 to 20 years, re-designing the shoreline area to create a world-class development zone and a recreational destination for the citizens of Jeddah linked to the city’s southern expansion. The overall strategy is to create a coastal greenbelt, an area for citizens to enjoy and relax, a world class beach frontage with investment opportunities respectful of Jeddah’s customs and culture. The Structure Plan also provides a long-term framework for the future growth and development of the South Corniche, ensuring that it becomes an active part of the city of Jeddah and a place enjoyed by its citizens.
The Structure Plan delineates the structure and development of the project area based on criteria of sustainable development, environmental compatibility and cultural identity. Through land zoning and land use it indicates the guidelines that will regulate successive planning actions and design in relation to: territorial conservation; development of new areas; development of infrastructures and transport systems; policies for culture, commerce and tourism; social, functional, environmental and morphological objectives.
Based on the characteristics of the local context, in a first Broad Zoning phase the Structure Plan has identified ten different areas in the South Corniche, and has applied to them a specific vocation, the main feature that will characterize their development. The ten different areas identified have been analyzed and characterized by means of six parameters, describing the anthropic, naturalistic, environmental, geological and hydrological characteristics of the territory. Regulations have then been specified for each of the identified areas.
After completing the cognitive and planning framework, a SWOT analysis of the ten areas has been undertaken, in order to find the most suitable for future developments. It has been assumed, according to what has been agreed with the stakeholders, that the fundamental requirements the area has to meet are: the actual feasibility of future developments with minimal investments in terms of infrastructures and utilities; the possibility to carry out the developments minimizing the time needed to make the area available for future investors. In each of selected ‘best’ areas, an initial stretch of 3 km2 – 4.5 km2 has then been identified, as the most suitable to answer to the Client’s need to create a world class beach frontage with investment opportunities responding to the local customs and culture of the citizens of Jeddah.
A 510 ha area (10 km shoreline) has then been selected and a masterplan strategy has been implemented after the identification of the project targets and the tools to reach them. Some master planning invariant features and purposes have been identified – in continuity with the Structure Plan, the South Western District Master Plan and the technical detailed studies – as structural elements of the project proposal. The site has then been divided into six development zones, with different potential commercial / retail / residential and hospitality opportunities (not binding but suggested as the best ones). The project proposal implies the waterfront expansion – equipped with facilities, in a variable sequence of natural and artificial elements – and its enhancement through the elimination of the outer three lanes carriageway and the creation of some artificial beaches and islands. A green belt, a natural parks system, will work as a filter between the waterfront and the hinterland.