Planning for missing middle housing: an alternative option for combating housing crisis in Jeddah city

Abstract

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has been experiencing a rapid urban growth in the recent decades with intense demand on housing. Government policies are trying to revise strategies to supply more housing units in order to meet the exerting pressure of housing demand, and enhancing the living standard for the urbanites in Jeddah city. In doing so, increasing the population density in missing middle housing units at neighborhoods in Jeddah can be critical to enhance livability index of the city. This study, emphasizes the need of introducing missing middle housing units in Jeddah city upon consulting the residents. In doing so, we have adopted a scientific research method to obtain information from the urbanites by conducting an online survey to the local residents of Jeddah (n = 116). Results demonstrate that 87% of the respondents are Saudi citizens in comparison to 13% Non-Saudis. Also, preferences are given to the courtyard types of building by the residents of Jeddah for their future investments in buying or renting a housing unit. Furthermore, this study may provide the choices of residents regarding missing-middle types of housing units and relevant organizations may introduce policies and strategies to meet up the growing housing demand in Jeddah city.

Keywords

• housing demand
• urban growth
• housing policies
• ksa