Urban Land Middle East article describing Jeddah Free Trade City

2. In the southwestern part of this SDZ and
abutting the port is roughly 19.4 million square
feet (1.8 million sq m) of undeveloped, con-
taminated land identified by developer Ziyad
Zaidan as ideal for the Jeddah Free Trade City
(JFTC). According to Zaidan, this privately
funded project will be a “one-window B2B
[business-to-business] trading gateway to
the Islamic world” through which manufac-
turers and suppliers worldwide will be able to
sell efficiently into Muslim countries around
the world.
Zaidan is a visionary for new towns and
communities in Saudi Arabia, seeing sustain-
able development opportunities in the deterio-
rating environment. Born in Mecca, he earned
bachelor and master of arts degrees in ar-
chitecture from the University of Detroit, then
a doctorate in new town development from
L’Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne
in Switzerland.
In 1975, he established in Saudi Arabia the
M U R P H Y / JA H N
IDEA Center, a conventional architecture and
engineering consultancy, which by 1991 had
evolved into his development company, IDEA
Network. He later set up EcoVisions as a divi-
sion of the company to push the boundaries
of green design, to maximize the use of inte-
grated environment technologies, and to pro-
vide practical solutions to the full spectrum of
global environmental concerns.
With a total of 15 million annual Hajj and
Ummrah pilgrims coming through Jeddah ev-
ery year, the city ranks fifth worldwide in num-
ber of visitors. Saudi Arabia has come under
increasing political pressure to dramatically
increase its capacity to accommodate the
world’s rapidly expanding Muslim population.
In response, it has begun a massive national
infrastructure improvement program to increase
airport capacity by opening the Madinah airport
to international flights, and by dramatically ex-
panding Jeddah’s King Abdul Aziz International
The Mecca province of Saudi Arabia is International Airport, and the preservation and Airport. A high-speed intercity rail network will
undergoing extensive urban regeneration, development of Jeddah’s historic Old Town, Al link Madinah, Jeddah, Mecca, and Riyadh, and
surpassing by far the building boom of the Balad, for which King Abdullah has approved intracity monorails will link the centers of these
1970s. Many of the new development proj- a SAR3.5 billion ($935 million) grant. cities to high-speed rail hubs. Major develop-
ects contributing to this boom were show- Between the Old Town on the east and the ments are also underway to increase the capac-
cased recently at an exhibition in Jeddah, for- port on the west, a dilapidated urban area of 64.6 ity and capability of the holy cities to deal with
mally opened by the custodian of the two holy million square feet (6 million sq m) near the cen- the massive influx of people during the annual
mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. Key ter of the city has been designated by the Jeddah Hajj—their organization, movement, safety, ac-
to this regeneration are the expansion of the municipality for redevelopment and approved as commodation, feeding, and medical care. Stud-
Jeddah Islamic Port and the King Abdul Aziz a special development zone (SDZ) by the king. ies project that by 2015 to 2020, 60 million or

3. more religious tourists could be visiting Saudi La Défense, and New York City’s Manhattan,
Arabia annually, and they will all make the trip Zaidan says.
through Jeddah. Many will be businessmen and “JFTC offers a unique opportunity for a to-
businesswomen. tally integrated community of commerce, busi-
By the time the JFTC is operating in 2014 ness, and housing for a permanent and tran-
or 2015, the rail lines linking Jeddah, Madi- sient community,” say Helmut Jahn, architect
nah, Mecca, and Riyadh will be established of Jedhattan. “Built in phases, the master
and a new rail terminal will be shared with plan allows for incremental yet self-contained
the port. In addition, a major station for Jed- units, served by an infrastructure matrix for
dah’s monorail will be integrated into the pro- service, waste management, recycling, and
ject, effectively linking it directly to the airport transportation.”
and other parts of the inner city. The ground level will be heavily land-
With spiritual obligation bringing millions scaped with natural and built elements pro-
and millions of religious tourists to the JFTC’s viding shade for pedestrian movement and
doorstep, the project has been conceived by encouraging connectivity. The 300-by-300-foot
EcoVisions to serve and capitalize on this ex- (90-by-90 m) parcels will allow construction of
ceptional global customer base. Trade, a efficient, tall towers with multiple uses orga-
mainstay of Jeddah dating back to pre-Islamic nized around large atriums, intended to help
days, has progressively increased since the create vertical communities.
advent of Islam and the Hajj and Ummrah rit- The second zone, Jeddah Circle, will be
uals. The JFTC intends to build on this tradi- the host environment and base for service in-
tion with three cross-pollinating development dustries supporting trade. Using the theme of
M U R P H Y / JA H N
zones: an international exhibition and trading various Islamic cultures and integrating their
hub; a pilgrimage-targeted hospitality, mer- respective styles, food, and ways of life, Jed-
chandising, and entertainment center; and a dah Circle will be geared to welcome Hajj and
digital village training center focused on edu- Ummrah pilgrims. It will be compliant with A privately funded project proposed for a dilapidated urban
cating women through digital technologies for shari’a—Islamic law—and employ state-of-the- area near the center of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Jeddah
Free Trade City will consist of three zones (below). Zone one,
meaningful roles in the nation’s workforce. art, user-friendly technologies to provide in-
Jedhattan, will be an international exhibition and trading hub;
The trading center, called Jedhattan, will formation, as well as cultural and educational zone two, Jeddah Circle, will be a hospitality, merchandising,
house a permanent business-to-business ex- entertainment to show how Islam spread his- and entertainment center; and zone three will be a training
hibition and conference center where interna- center. Jedhattan (site plan, above; model, facing page) is
torically through trade and commerce. Visitors
being designed by Chicago-based Murphy/Jahn Architects.
tional trade and commercial delegations from will be taught about and reminded of the his-
around the world will promote, exhibit, and
sell their nations’ goods. A total of 54 million
square feet (5 million sq m) of Class A multi-
use, high-rise development will take shape on
a 2.2 million-square-foot (200,000-sq-m) foot-
print to accommodate these delegations and
their customers, as well as other commerce-
Zone-1 Special
related businesses and institutions and their
Development
supporting activities. Zone
With its strategic position on the Red Sea,
Area Integral To
Jedhattan has been conceived by Zaidan to be JFTC Vision
the most effective and efficient means for for-
eign manufacturers to import goods into Saudi
Arabia, and for these goods in turn to be dis-
tributed within the kingdom and exported
JFTC Development
to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Mid- Zone-2
Area
dle East/North Africa (MENA) countries and,
ultimately, to southeastern Europe and sub-
Zone-3
Saharan Africa. Jedhattan was strongly in-
MURPHY/JAHN
fluenced by iconic international urban set-
tings such as London’s Canary Wharf, Paris’s

4. tory and significance of the holy places and the
performance of the Hajj and Ummrah rituals in
Mecca and Madinah. Another vital feature will
be specialized medical facilities and hospitals.
The third zone will be a digital village
training center focused on educating women
through digital technologies. Training will in-
clude the administration and management of
the whole of the Jeddah Free Trade City, simi-
lar in concept to a hotel’s back-of-house func-
tion, but at a much larger scale. Along with a
new women’s college, the zone will include
teaching, residential, and administration
buildings and provide the technologies that
will be employed for Jeddah Circle.
The Jeddah Free Trade City will be targeted
at the following sectors:
M U R P H Y / JA H N
Muslim countries that want to increase and
streamline trade with other Muslim countries;
Western European, North American, Com-
monwealth of Independent States, and Oce-
Following two decades of decline, Jeddah for major investment in commerce, logistics,
ania countries that currently trade with indi-
is in a dramatic state of resurgence, and the hospitality, and entertainment. While Jeddah’s
vidual Islamic countries in diverse locations
JFTC is expected to act as a catalyst for the ur- urban scale has expanded tremendously in
but would benefit from a central point or fo-
ban revitalization and economic regenera- the last 35 years, the development of the
cus of trade;
tion of this ancient Arabian seaport. Adopt- city’s infrastructure and built environment
Far Eastern countries whose product sales
ing an international perspective, the project has proceeded haphazardly. In the same pe-
into Muslim countries are significant, includ-
is intended to create a new economic base riod, government and banking activities have
ing China, which has seen sales expand ex-
for Jeddah rather than compete within the ceased to serve their historical roles as driv-
ponentially in recent years; and
city’s existing economy. It will be an autono- ers of economic vitality for the city, and Jed-
India, which would like to expand trade
mous, self-contained, independent urban dis- dah’s traditional maritime trade connections
with Muslim countries.
trict containing all basic infrastructure, utili- have withered because of insufficient func-
According to Zaidan, too many large-scale
ties, networks, and other systems necessary tional links between Jeddah Islamic Port and
projects in the Middle East have been con-
to support high-quality urban living and thriv- the rest of the urban economy.”
ceived in search of quick gains—launched
ing international business activities. Resolving these and numerous other im-
with much fanfare and adulation only to fail
“This Jeddah Free Trade City project is portant urban issues that have plagued Jed-
shortly thereafter because they have no sub-
timely,” Monitor Group, a Cambridge, Massa- dah for decades, the project is seen as a vital
stance beneath the surface. To avoid this, the
chusetts–based private global management stimulant intended to trigger the city’s social,
EcoVisions team has adapted innovative ap-
consulting firm, reported in a September 2007 cultural, and economic revival, says Zaidan.
proaches to large-scale land development for
proposal for a feasibility study and implemen- By creating a new sustainable economic base
the JFTC that incorporate investment banking
tation strategy for the Jeddah Free Trade City. for Jeddah, the project will provide much-
techniques and structured finance solutions to
“Jeddah urgently requires modern urban com- needed employment across all social and
establish, test, and verify optimal land uses.
mercial space, while the broader region is ripe economic demographics for a rapidly expand-
Physical and socioeconomic development have
been matched to establish a sound founda-
tion for the project. National economics, private
sector profitability, socioeconomics, sociocul-
tural elements, the environment, and regional
and global relevance are all major factors when
considering sustainability, and EcoVisions has
brought them all to the table for the JFTC. The
EcoVisions team has used the project as a plat-
form from which to spin off profitable ongoing
downstream business ventures.

5. Jedhattan will include 54 million square feet
(5 million sq m) of Class A multiuse, high-rise
development (shown in early sketches, facing
page, and models, left). A section through
the city center (below) indicates the multiple
connections among these striking urban forms.
trast, the JFTC will have a permanent ongoing
exhibition of its clients’ goods and services,
which will be interlaced with special exhibits,
conferences, and seminars presenting innova-
tions and technology developments relating
M U R P H Y / JA H N
to its clients. Local sales agents will not be in-
volved in resulting sales at JFTC. More impor-
tant, Dubai’s customer base is, and always
ing, well-educated young Saudi population effluent normally discarded not only to help will be, far smaller than the JFTC customer
throughout the kingdom’s western region. create gardens and a green, urban oasis, but base, says Zaidan.
The JFTC is expected to be a major economic also to support green roofs. These roofs will “This opportunity for growth and change
driver in the revitalization of Jeddah’s central both constitute attractive gardens and help [offered by the JFTC] in Jeddah is part of a
area and the restoration of the city’s historic cool the roofs, thereby conserving energy and broader context of socioeconomic develop-
position as the kingdom’s commercial capital. reducing air-conditioning costs. Water pumped ment throughout the kingdom of Saudi Ara-
The project will be coordinated with the devel- from deep in the sea where water is cool will bia and the Red Sea basin,” says the Moni-
opment programs and priorities of municipal, be used to help create a comfortable micro- tor Group. “The ongoing progress of economic
regional, and national governments to acceler- climate. Except for the cost of pumping, this development and material prosperity in Saudi
ate local development and elicit support from saltwater resource is free and will be used in Arabia, driven by the rapid diversification and
important regional players. hundreds of saltwater fountains and runnels. sophistication of economic activities, prom-
As an EcoVisions project, JFTC will be en- The JFTC will have the two things hardest to ises to continue to create demand for com-
vironmentally friendly. New ecotechnologies come by in the desert—plants and water. mercial, logistical, hospitality, and entertain-
and concepts are being integrated on a city- Zaidan believes the JFTC has no true compet- ment services. Simultaneously, the growth of
wide scale into the project’s design to achieve itor because of its strategic location on the Red King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh will in-
low energy consumption and the smallest car- Sea and the size of its customer base. Although troduce Jeddah’s businesses to a diverse set
bon footprint possible. Energy from wind, so- others might see Dubai, for example, as a com- of customers, suppliers, and competitors.
lar power, biofuels, and recycled waste are petitor, Zaidan believes the emirate’s business More broadly, Jeddah is well positioned to
being studied. Clean technologies such as hy- activities are fundamentally different from those serve as a connection between resources and
drogen fuel cells will power transport of peo- configured for the JFTC. opportunity in the Red Sea basin and markets
ple through the project using personal trans- Although both are engaged in annual in Europe and east Asia.”
port systems and moving sidewalks to help trade-based business, Dubai’s business is
achieve near-zero vehicle emissions. centered on short-term exhibits, and all trans- B IZZIE FROST
Surrounded by water, the development will actions resulting from those exhibits are MICHAEL K ERB ER
have its own sewage treatment plant and use passed through local sales agents. In con-
MURPHY/JAHN
Reprinted with permission from Urban Land Middle East, Spring 2009. Published by ULI-Urban
Land Institute, 1025 Thomas Jefferson Street, N.W., Suite 500W, Washington, DC 20007-5201

6. DEVELOPER: EcoVisions Division IDEA Network / www.idea-development.net / Email: infor@idea-development.net ARCHITECT: Murphy / Jahn