Riyadh City Centre Decline

As reported by ADA (1999), the city centre of Riyadh has experienced some of the features of its urban decline including the shift of its demographic profile. Due to the decay, the population of the centre of Riyadh has undergone a rapid decline from 1,440,000 in 1997 to 817,312 in 2011 as shown in Table1 (in comparison to the population of the entire city). Moreover, the level of income in the area has dropped as well and currently can be classified as low (see fig. 1). For several decades, the problem was overlooked because the local leaders prioritised the expansion of more profitable and prestigious districts of Riyadh. However, over time this tendency shifted and the local authorities began to focus on the problems of the city centre. The redevelopment of the city centre that has turned into an ongoing process is anticipated to bring the population density up.