Quantitative analysis and spatial classification of some urban indicators and their relationship to sustainable regional development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Quantitative analysis and spatial classification of some urban indicators and their relationship to sustainable regional development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract:
This study focused on analyzing some urban indicators in the Kingdom, with the aim of classifying them and revealing their spatial variation among the regions of Saudi Arabia, and highlighting their relationship with sustainable regional development. The factor analysis method was used, incorporating (16) variables from the urban indicators in the Kingdom. The results of the study showed that four main factors were selected, and there was a strong relationship between them and the associated variables, with a saturation percentage of (94.2%) for the first factor. The regions of Riyadh, Asir, and Qassim were the highest in relation to this factor in terms of the distribution of factor scores for the urban indicators. The second factor reached (92.9%), with the Makkah region being the most related to it, followed by the third factor which reached (96.9%) and was associated with the Madinah region. Finally, the fourth factor reached (95.1%), with the Eastern Province being most closely related to it compared to other regions in the Kingdom. The study recommended the necessity of focusing on the implementation of urban indicators in cities and emphasized the importance of urban centers for monitoring and measuring those indicators to reduce the urban gap and variation among regions in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: factor analysis, spatial variance, urban indicators, urban observatories, urban sustainability.