Improving the Urban Landscape... and the Aesthetic Appeal of Cities... Everyone’s Responsibility
Anas Al-Turki
Building on the significant and sustained efforts undertaken by the Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs, and Housing aimed at to improve the urban landscape in cities, there are several regulatory steps that can contribute to enhancing the aesthetic appeal, most notably:
- Regional secretariats establishing field committees to track and monitor the most prominent instances of visual pollution.
- Distributing surveys to citizens to identify the locations and forms of visual pollution.
- Submitting the results of the committees" monitoring and the citizen surveys to the relevant department within the regional secretariat or the competent municipality.
- Establishing criteria and plans to begin improvement operations, including the priorities to be addressed first, the approved timeline for each issue, and the appropriate mechanism for its improvement.
- Instruct the relevant department to begin implementation in accordance with the previously approved criteria and plans.
- Have the supervising field committees conduct inspection tours to ensure that work continues according to the approved plans and to continuously monitor the progress of the work.
- Publish links and surveys for the general public to report new or unresolved issues.
- Encourage citizens to carry out these tasks by awarding points to each citizen who reports issues or submits suggestions; these points are tallied at the end of each year or season, and the citizen is awarded a certificate for their volunteer work and community service.
Positive Changes and Developments
As observers of the real estate sector, we must commend the positive changes that have taken place in the visual landscape, such as: the focus on planting and maintaining roadside greenery; the removal of abandoned vehicles and debris from buildings and structures; and the standardization of signage for grocery stores and similar establishments to ensure a uniform appearance; preserving historical, archaeological, and tourist areas by standardizing the appearance of buildings within them, and paving streets and roads even in remote areas that may be uninhabited.
Visual Distortions
However, despite these efforts, visual distortions that detract from the beauty of cities, but it is possible to minimize them by intensifying the work of the committees responsible for this matter and ensuring they play their role effectively, It is also very important to further activate citizens" participation and encourage them to play their part, by placing awareness and informational signs along roadsides and on social media and similar platforms that highlight the negative impact of these visual distortions, explain their harm, and outline how to limit and reduce them.
The Role of Real Estate Professionals and Investors
Real estate developers and investors play a major role and have a profound impact on improving the urban environment in the real estate sector. This is achieved through full compliance with the infrastructure standards approved by the regional municipality and strict adherence to them, and not merely meeting the minimum requirements for obtaining permits; rather, it is a social responsibility that extends for years and generations to come. It is very important to involve them in the decision-making processes and improvement initiatives undertaken in this regard.
Specialized committees to monitor irregularities
To achieve cities free of irregularities and violations, we believe the crucial decision that must be made is to establish specialized committees tasked with monitoring irregularities and proposing appropriate solutions, while actively engaging citizens in this process, and then addressing priorities: for example, paving is important, but improving the appearance of the street and repairing potholes and excavations is more important and takes precedence, and so on, until all irregularities are eliminated.
