Royal Commission for AlUla – Journey Through Time Masterplan
Core idea
Cultural landscape corridors and oases
Why it matters
Anchor for heritage-led regional economy
Description
A masterplan for the AlUla oasis region in north-west Saudi Arabia, published in 2021 by the Royal Commission for AlUla with French support through AFALULA. The 'Journey Through Time' plan organises a roughly twenty-kilometre corridor of cultural landscape linking five districts — from the old town of AlUla to the Nabataean tombs of Hegra, Saudi Arabia's first World Heritage Site — through a low-impact tramway, oasis regeneration and carefully sited cultural and hospitality development. It is conceived as a heritage-led regional economy under the Vision 2030 programme.
Significance
AlUla is a signal example of heritage- and landscape-led planning deployed as national economic diversification, treating an entire archaeological landscape rather than a city as the design object. It has drawn attention both as an ambitious model of corridor-based cultural planning and as part of wider debates about Gulf state mega-projects, tourism-driven development and their social and environmental costs.
What shaped it
- Landscape urbanism (Waldheim) (1997-2006)
- The chahar bagh (c. 6th c. BCE)
- Urban resilience (2013)
Sources
- https://www.rcu.gov.sa/en/strategic-initiatives/journey-through-time-masterplan
- https://www.afalula.com/en/journey-through-time-masterplan/