A Desert Nation Confronts a Heating Planet

As the world warms, few nations feel the heat as literally as Saudi Arabia. With daytime temperatures in major cities like Riyadh and Jeddah already reaching up to 63°C during summer months, projections indicate that the Kingdom could face average increases of up to 4°C by the end of the century. In some regions, particularly the Gulf coast, wet-bulb temperatures—the lethal combination of heat and humidity—could occasionally exceed survivable thresholds for humans.

These projections spell serious consequences for urban life in the Kingdom. Yet Saudi Arabia’s modern cities, constructed primarily in the post-oil era, are neither ancient nor organically evolved. Unlike the shaded alleys of Fez or the courtyard homes of Sana’a, Saudi cities were designed around the car, with low-density sprawl, segregated land uses, and cheap energy enabling ubiquitous air conditioning. This design DNA, once a symbol of modernization, now becomes a liability in an era of climate uncertainty.

A Built Environment Ill-Suited to Climate Resilience

In Riyadh, Dammam, and Jeddah, residential neighbourhoods are typified by detached villas, wide roads, and scant public space. Public transport remains nascent, walkability is minimal, and shaded outdoor areas are rare. While traditional architecture in the region offered passive cooling via wind towers, thick walls, and strategic orientation, these techniques were largely abandoned in favour of Western suburban models made feasible by inexpensive oil.

This makes many mainstream adaptation strategies—such as densification, pedestrianization, or retrofitting vernacular techniques—difficult to implement at scale. Unlike the historic cores of Cairo or Istanbul, Saudi cities do not offer a rich layer of premodern fabric to reinterpret or revitalize. Instead, adaptation must reckon with the reality: sprawling, low-density cities reliant on fossil-fuelled cooling and private vehicles.

Five Paths Through the Furnace: Climate Adaptation for Today’s Saudi Cities

Adapting the Kingdom’s urban form to a hotter future won’t happen overnight. But there are real, practical strategies that can reduce heat stress, cut emissions, and make daily life more liveable—without asking people to give up their cars or turn off the air conditioning. Here’s how:

1. Cool the Roof, Save the House
One of the simplest ways to fight urban heat is from the top down. In a city where most homes are flat-roofed villas, retrofitting rooftops with reflective, high-albedo materials can reduce indoor temperatures by up to 5°C. Even better: green roofs where feasible. A thin layer of soil and drought-resistant plants can insulate buildings and provide evaporative cooling—without the need for irrigation-heavy lawns.

For neighborhoods built at scale, coordinated programs can help turn entire districts into reflective zones, cutting ambient temperatures and energy use. Building codes can be updated to require cool roofing for new construction or renovations.

2. Solar Panels Everywhere
Saudi cities are bathed in sunlight for more than 300 days a year. That sunshine can be put to work. Rooftop solar panels can power not just lights, but the air conditioners that dominate household energy use. For car-dependent suburbs, solar canopies over car parks serve a double function: shade for vehicles and clean energy for the grid.

Imagine a supermarket with a solar roof powering its own refrigeration, or a school with shaded courtyards and solar-fed cooling. These aren’t futuristic visions—they’re viable upgrades that pay off in comfort and lower bills.

3. Microclimates on Every Block
When you can’t fix the city, fix the corner. Small-scale cooling interventions can transform a neighbourhood. Shaded benches, pergolas with climbing plants, or even simple fabric canopies strung between buildings can create pockets of outdoor comfort.

Planting trees might seem like a luxury in the desert, but native species are hardy and effective at casting shade. Xeriscaped gardens—designed for minimal water use—can reduce surface temperatures while adding life to sterile street scapes. City governments can provide free tree-planting kits, shade structures, or subsidies for vertical gardens on villa walls.

4. Smarter Cooling, Smarter Homes
Air conditioning isn’t going away—but it can be made vastly more efficient. Retrofitting buildings with better insulation, double-glazed windows, and energy-efficient HVAC systems can dramatically reduce electricity use and improve comfort. Smart thermostats can adapt cooling patterns to match usage, reducing unnecessary consumption during the hottest hours.

At a city level, district cooling networks—centralized systems that serve multiple buildings—can offer more efficient and climate-friendly air conditioning, especially for new developments and commercial zones.

5. Resilient Mobility: Shade the Commute
In a car-first society, adaptation doesn’t mean abandoning vehicles—but it does mean making movement more bearable. Shaded pavements, tree-lined medians, and cooled bus shelters can make short-distance walking or waiting for public transport less punishing.

While full public transit systems may take time to mature, smaller-scale solutions—like electric minibuses with air conditioning, or park-and-ride hubs with shaded parking—can ease the transition. Even simple interventions, like planting fast-growing trees along pedestrian routes to schools and mosques, can lower perceived temperatures by several degrees.

From Petroleum Past to Climate-Conscious Future

Many of the Mega Projects dreamt up have ambitious sustainability goals, and they offer the possibility to create a completely new urban fabric that better suits the climate. Whether they will deliver remains to be seen. But the real test lies in adapting the existing cities—where millions already live—not just in futuristic dreams but in retrofitting reality.

This requires not just technical interventions, but policy shifts: urban design codes that reward energy performance, planning frameworks that support decentralized cooling networks, and public awareness campaigns that promote behavioural adaptation.

In the end, Saudi Arabia faces a paradox: it must decarbonize and adapt within cities built for the carbon age. Doing so will demand pragmatism, innovation, and political will. The solutions may not lie in the past, but in reinventing the future, one air-conditioned villa at a time.