Motivation and Attachment in the Use of Public Open Spaces in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Abdullah N ...

307 Pages·2015·14.81 MB·English

by  Dr. Addas

Motivation and Attachment in the Use of Public Open
Spaces in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abdullah N. Addas

A thesis submitted to the University of Sheffield in fulfilment of
the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

February - 2015
Landscape Department – The University Of Sheffield
DEDICATION

I dedicate my thesis to my family.
A special feeling of gratitude to my loving parents, Nidal and Fayzah whose words of
encouragement led me to this success.
My sisters Sara and Rawabi have never left my side and are very special and supported
me in to the last.
This thesis is dedicated to my son Yousef.
I am sorry for being away from you for a long time but you will be proud of your father
forever.

I Love You All.
Finally this work is dedicated to Jeddah especially and to Saudi Arabia.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

A deep feeling of gratitude and a special appreciation to my first supervisor Clare
Rishbeth for every single comment you gave me to improve my research and build up
my personality as a researcher and for every moment you gave me of your time to help
me to grow as a social scientist researcher. Clare you have been a tremendous mentor
for me. Your advice on both research as well as on my life have been priceless and you
helped me to go beyond many difficulties during the time I spent in Sheffield. Honestly,
I feel lucky and proud to be one of your students because of the knowledge you have in
the field of the study, your teaching methods and techniques and your innovation and
creativity. I would also like to deeply thank my second supervisor Dr.Anna Jorgensen
for her time to guide me and for the valuable comments and suggestions to improve my
research skills. It is true we haven’t met on an on going basis but without your support I
would not have been able to accomplish important parts of my thesis. Thank you for
believing in me and for your instruction.
A special thanks goes to the University of Sheffield and especially to the Landscape
Department to provide students with a fantastic studying environment and for all the
facilities that supported our studies. A great appreciation to Ms Helen Morris the
Landscape Department postgraduate administrator. I annoyed and bothered Helen
during my master study in 2008 – 2009 and again for four years in the PhD study with
my questions and requests. You accepted everything I asked for with a smile, thank you
so much Helen. Thanks should also be given to all the authors of books, journals and
researches who helped me in one way or another.
A special thanks to the Landscape Architecture Department at King Abdulaziz
University in Jeddah that gave me the opportunity to study abroad and to accomplish
this success. A great appreciation to assistant professor Dr. Ali Baubaid for his
encouragement and support. You have been a tremendous mentor for me since 2002 and
I will never stop consulting you and asking for your advice and support.
A special thanks to my family. Words cannot express how grateful I am to my mother
Dr. Fayzah Jan and my father Mr. Nidal Addas for all of the sacrifices that you have
made on my behalf. Your prayers for me have sustained me. I would also like to thank
my sisters Sarah and Rawabi for all their support and encouragement. Your motivation
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and support gave me the power to remain constant and to gain this success. I would like
to express appreciation to my beloved son Yousef, who I have not seen for about a year,
but definitely I will make it up to you soon, my son.
I believe that every person has a secret friend who helps us to achieve our goals, who
push us to reach our dreams and who guide and listen to us. I must say that I do have
that secret friend and I feel that I must offer to my secret friend a deep feeling of
gratitude and a special appreciation. Thanks for you when you spent days and nights
listening to me talking about my PhD and the difficulties that I faced during my study.
Also, I must thank all my friends for their support and encouragement. You all were
been more than friends during the four years of my study.

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ABSTRACT
This research investigates how the residents of the city of Jeddah perceive, use and
experience open spaces within an urban context, including unplanned and peri-urban
natural areas. It highlights the patterns of use of open spaces and compares these with
research findings from North America and European countries.

The specific cultural and historical context of Arabic countries means that key factors in
use of public space are the segregation of gender and importance of religious practice.
However, Jeddah is also a multicultural city, with a high proportion of migrant
residents, so also provides a research context for critiquing transnational practices and
attachments. The research strategy was developed from two key methodological
principles. The first develops investigation of place as an integration of form, fabric and
cultural practice, allowing the research to link social patterns with the physical design of
the public realm. The second foregrounds storytelling methods to elicit complexity of
place attachment, enabling investigation of intangible influences, such as social norms,
gender norms, religion and ethnicity. A qualitative case study approach was used to
investigate users’ cultural practices and experiences of public spaces. The methods used
in this research were a review of maps and documents, car surveys, observations and
on-site interviews. It was important to develop an open space typology to meet the
diversity of use in a case study selection specific to a Gulf region context.

One key finding of this research indicates that Saudi and non-Saudi users visit designed
open spaces and incidental spaces that meet their perceived needs, and positive
experiences by women using public open spaces implies a broad desire to undertake
more outdoor physical activity. The factor of gender is also shown to significantly
influence how places are used in terms of temporal and spatial dimensions, as women
and men made adaptions to their use of public open spaces to conform to cultural
norms. Another key finding of this research suggests people seek out meaningful places
that are primarily defined by social connections or by restorative experience. The final
key finding of this research shows that public open spaces often fail to meet the
identified needs of a diverse range of users, the findings indicate concerns about poor
maintenance of public open spaces, and there are insufficient opportunities for users to
share their needs with decision makers. Therefore, this research enhances knowledge of
patterns of usage and place attachment for public open spaces in an Arab country that
follows Islamic law, but also found similarities of patterns of place attachment when
comparing Western studies, which suggests that this theory has cross-cultural relevance.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DEDICATION .................................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGMENT .................................................................................................... ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................. v
LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................... xii
LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................xiii

CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................... xv
AIMS & RESEARCH SCOPE .................................................................................... xv

1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1
1.2 The research aims and objectives................................................................................ 1
1.3 The Context ................................................................................................................. 2
1.4 Research methodology ................................................................................................ 5
1.5 The Structure of the Thesis ......................................................................................... 7

CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................ 9
CONTEXT OF THE RESEARCH LOCATION ......................................................... 9

2.1 Saudi Arabia .............................................................................................................. 10
2.2 Jeddah ....................................................................................................................... 11
2.3 Growth and development .......................................................................................... 12
2.4 Demographics: structure ........................................................................................... 12
2.5 Demographics: growth .............................................................................................. 13
2.6 Immigration ............................................................................................................... 14
2.7 Immigration challenges ............................................................................................. 17
2.8 Family and social life ............................................................................................... 19
2.9 Attitudes toward women ........................................................................................... 21
2.10 Planning Issues ........................................................................................................ 22
2.11 Open spaces: Social attitudes .................................................................................. 23
2.12 Saudi Arabia: Recreation and Leisure .................................................................... 26
2.12.1 Recreation and leisure .......................................................................................... 26
2.12.2 Leisure time growth ............................................................................................. 28
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2.13 Saudi Arabia: leisure time usage ............................................................................. 28
2.14 Recreation: demands by people .............................................................................. 30

CHAPTER THREE ...................................................................................................... 33
LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................ 33

3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 34
Part One :Open Space Studies ........................................................................................ 36
3.2 Open space ................................................................................................................ 36
3.3 City form and open spaces ........................................................................................ 37
3.4 Open spaces and physical activities .......................................................................... 39
3.5 Mental and Social Wellbeing and Open Spaces ....................................................... 41
3.6 Open spaces in the Middle East context ................................................................... 44
3.6.1 Social and Cultural Uses of Space ......................................................................... 45
3.6.2 Planning, Design and Maintenance ........................................................................ 48
3.7 Gender, Age and Ethnicity of Open Space Users ..................................................... 51
3.7.1 Gender .................................................................................................................... 52
3.7.2 Age ......................................................................................................................... 53
3.7.3 Ethnicity ................................................................................................................. 53
Part Two :Place & Place Attachment Studies ................................................................. 55
3.8 Person and Place relationships .................................................................................. 55
3.9 Sense of place and bonding ....................................................................................... 57
3.10 Place attachment and affordances ........................................................................... 65
3.11 Person, process and place dimensions .................................................................... 66
3.11.1 Person ................................................................................................................... 67
3.11.2 Process ................................................................................................................. 67
3.11.3 Place ..................................................................................................................... 67
3.12 Summary ................................................................................................................. 68

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CHAPTER FOUR ......................................................................................................... 70
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................................................................ 69

4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 70
4.2 Methodological approaches ...................................................................................... 71
4.2.1 Investigating place as an integration of form, fabric and cultural practice ............ 72
4.2.2 Adopting storytelling methods to elicit complexity of place attachment ............ 75
4.3 The Selection of the City of Jeddah .......................................................................... 77
4.4 Overview and Integration of mixed methods ............................................................ 78
4.5 Identifying typology .................................................................................................. 81
4.6 Case study ................................................................................................................. 83
4.7 Observation ............................................................................................................... 84
4.8 Interviews .................................................................................................................. 87
4. 8. 1 On-Site Interviews ............................................................................................... 89
4. 8. 2 Practitioners Interviews........................................................................................ 91
4.8.3 Informed Interview Consent .................................................................................. 92
4.8.3 Recordings of Interviews ....................................................................................... 92
4.8.4 Transcribing ........................................................................................................... 93
4.9 Photographs ............................................................................................................... 93
4.10 Sampling size .......................................................................................................... 93
4.11 Data analysis ........................................................................................................... 97
4.12 Reflection on methodology and cultural context .................................................. 100
4.13 Summary ............................................................................................................... 101

CHAPTER FIVE ........................................................................................................ 102
JEDDAH OPEN SPACES TYPOLOGY .................................................................. 102

5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 103
5.2 The need for typology ............................................................................................. 103
5.3 Review of existing typology ................................................................................... 105
5.4 Jeddah public open spaces typology approach ....................................................... 108
5.5 Intensive landscape case study sites........................................................................ 111
5.5.1 Incidental Sites ..................................................................................................... 111
Tunnel edges ................................................................................................................. 112
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Pavements (Pedestrian walkways) ................................................................................ 113
5.5.2 Designed sites ...................................................................................................... 114
Parks and Gardens: Aljafali Mosque Garden ................................................................ 114
Parks and Gardens: Faisal Bin Fahd street (Hilton Walkway) ..................................... 118
Parks and Gardens: Al-Rawdah Garden ....................................................................... 121
Parks and Gardens: Al-Masrat Complex ...................................................................... 125
Squares and plazas: Al Mahmal Square ........................................................................ 127
5.6 Extensive landscape case study sites ...................................................................... 130
5.6.1 Waterfront ............................................................................................................ 130
5.6.2 Desert ................................................................................................................... 143
5.7 Open spaces design, quality of management in Jeddah .......................................... 144
5.7.1 Open space design in Jeddah ............................................................................... 144
5.7.2 Management quality in Jeddah open space .......................................................... 145
Resources ...................................................................................................................... 146
Maintenance .................................................................................................................. 147
Coordination ................................................................................................................. 148
Regulations ................................................................................................................... 148
Summary ....................................................................................................................... 149

CHAPTER SIX ........................................................................................................... 150
PATTERN OF OPEN SPACES USE ........................................................................ 150

6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 151
6.2 Pattern of use ........................................................................................................... 151
Incidental land: common walkways .............................................................................. 152
Incidental land: Tunnel edges\road edges ..................................................................... 153
Parks and Gardens: Al-Jafali Mosque Garden .............................................................. 154
Parks and Gardens: Hilton Walkway ............................................................................ 155
Parks and Gardens: Al-Rawdah Garden ....................................................................... 157
Parks and Gardens: Al-Masrat Complex ...................................................................... 158
Civic Places: Al-Mahmal Square .................................................................................. 158
Waterfront ..................................................................................................................... 160
Desert ............................................................................................................................ 161
6.3 Barriers and frustrations .......................................................................................... 162
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6.3.1 Site design and quality ......................................................................................... 162
6.3.2 Maintenance and hygiene .................................................................................... 165
6.3.3 Lack of facilities .................................................................................................. 166
6.3.4 Safety and security ............................................................................................... 169
6.3.5 Vandalism and anti-social behaviour ................................................................... 170
6.4 Key findings ............................................................................................................ 171
6.4.1 Who uses open spaces? (Users’ diversity) .......................................................... 171
6.4.2 How are open spaces used? (users’ activities) ..................................................... 173
6.4.3 When are they used? (time and duration) ............................................................ 174
6.4.4 Selecting sites to visit and sitting spots ................................................................ 175

CHAPTER SEVEN ..................................................................................................... 177
MOTIVATION & ATTACHMENT IN USING OPEN SPACES ......................... 177

7.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 178
7.2 A personal perception of health and wellbeing ....................................................... 178
7.3 Escape to nature and away from everyday life ....................................................... 185
7.3.1 Escape to outside the city ..................................................................................... 185
7.3.2 Escape within the city .......................................................................................... 188
7.4 Open spaces as places for reviving memories and deriving meanings ................... 189
7.4.1 Waterfront ............................................................................................................ 189
7.4.2 Parks and Gardens ................................................................................................ 191
Al-Jafali Mosque Garden .............................................................................................. 191
Hilton Walkway ............................................................................................................ 192
Al-Rawdah Garden ....................................................................................................... 194
7.4.3 Civic Places .......................................................................................................... 196
Al-Mahmal Square ........................................................................................................ 196
7.4.4 Incidental Land .................................................................................................... 198
7.5 Social links in open spaces ..................................................................................... 200

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