ABSTRACT
Chapter 1, Introduction: Discovering Riyadh, explains the origins and purpose of the book. First I make some personal observations concerning my encounter with the city in the 1970s and subsequently in 2019 and 2020. I then explain the rationale behind examining Riyadh and the relevance of its urban model, especially as it relates to a humanization programme initiated in the 1990s. Rationale, questions and methods are further detailed, followed by a literature review situating the book within the broader discourse of urban planning in Arab cities. The chapter ends with an Epilogue outlining the importance of humanization initiatives in a post-pandemic urbanization paradigm.
