Measuring Intra-City Eco-Efficiency Variations of Urban Infrastructures in Jeddah

Abstract

Saudi cities are experiencing construction booms linked to urban infrastructure services and the Kingdom’s second largest city, Jeddah, is not an exception. As these booms are associated with urban expansion and rapid population growth, the major challenge confronting urban planners is the ensuring of resource efficiency given the offered infrastructure. In fact, reducing the consumption of resources and the impact of consumption on the environment is a serious concern with respect to the improved value of sustainable urban development as well as society. This paper attempts to measure intra-city spatial eco-efficiency variations of the major urban infrastructures of Jeddah. These infrastructures include water supply, public transportation, social businesses, energy consumption, solid waste generation and green areas, all of which are assumed to be offered as a skeleton for upcoming urban environmental plans that will then lead to the reconfiguring, retrofitting or replacing of infrastructures in the city, thus driving it towards a green economy.