Mayor Adel Bin Muhammad Faqih on Tuesday opened the fourth “Pioneers of Architecture” exhibition under the patronage of Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah. The week-long exhibition at Hilton Hotel here has been organized by the Aalam Al-Tamayoz (World of Excellence) Company and supervised by the Saudi College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Mahmoud Awadh, the director general of the organizing company, said new housing and real estate projects would be announced and launched during the period of the exhibition. “Jeddah is witnessing a boom in its real estate market and an increase in residential areas, which is a notable urban development,” Awadh said. “Politicians and real estate people from here and abroad are attending the exhibition, and we expect the number of visitors to exceed 50,000 people.” Studies reveal the necessity for strategies and plans to achieve balanced economic, urban, social and environmental development, according to Awadh. “This comes through the sensible exploitation of the Kingdom's strengths in natural resources and strategic location, which require new development programs that depend on free trade and sustainable tourism,” he said. “Policies should be redrawn to support regional development, and decentralization should be the foundation of regional administrations.” Awadh said a national information center serving as a font for urban research and ideas would help create “a residential strategy that is both realistic and based on sound population data”.
