Preparation of a Master Plan for this New Community is currently in progress, and four preliminary visions were developed to assist in the preparation of a final development program. The Site is midway between Jeddah and Makkah along the new highway, and is adjacent to an Industrial Park that will show long range employment growth.
Four Options envision the urban character and lifestyles that will result from different program emphases. The Oasis Community, is a unitary residential compound with opportunistic commercial uses; Urban Villages, is a group of ‘villages’ and an Office Park adjacent to the Industrial Park; Live-Work Commune separates environments for mixed-use and the purely residential; and New Town, is a traditional new community with a mixed-use downtown. All the Options retain at least a third of the Site as environmental open space, and sustainability measures include water conservation, rainwater harvesting, and Xeriscape landscaping using the indigenous plants of Saudi Arabia. The projected resident population varies from 25 to 45,000, and the average net FAR from 0.66 to 1.05.