Riyadh’s Urban Greenwave: Fostering City Resilience Through Large-Scale Greening

This chapter examines the crucial role of nature-based development and urban afforestation, including parks and connected green corridors, in boosting city climate resilience and fostering green mobility. It highlights the strategic value of green spaces in protecting urban areas from climate change effects like rising temperatures and severe weather. As cities in regions with rising temperatures face climate change impacts, green areas are increasingly seen not just as recreational spaces but as vital elements of urban climate strategies. Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s hottest countries, and the broader Arabian Peninsula have warmed 50% faster than other northern hemisphere land masses (Climate Futures Report, 2023, KAUST, AEON Collective, KAPSARC). Saudi Arabia is making large-scale investments in urban green infrastructure, developing Riyadh as a leading city with sustainable arid climate. Riyadh’s strategies appear to be creating a Greenwave, a comprehensive, climate-positive movement through extensive citywide greening, with green corridors to support sustainable transportation. The fundamental aspects of this emerging Greenwave—urban greening and decarbonized mobility—are poised for transformative, large-scale change. A comparative spatial analysis of Riyadh suggests that new parks will extend green space across the city into nearly all residential and commercial areas, linking them via tree-lined boulevards to the newly established Riyadh Metro. This nature-based planning exemplifies Riyadh’s commitment to sustainability and may represent one of the most comprehensive urban adaptations to a warming world.