The fortunes of Diriyah once mirrored those of the House of Saud. Founded by an ancestor of the Saudi royal family in the 15th century, the city grew in size and influence as the Saudis conquered much of the Arabian peninsula; it then fell to the Ottomans in 1818, dragging down both its namesake emirate and the Saud dynasty. As the foreign rulers repeatedly laid Diriyah to waste, the local gentry moved to adjacent Riyadh. 

Today, Riyadh is both home to the ruling elite and the capital city of Saudi Arabia, while the only tangible legacy of Diriyah’s faded glory are the ruins of the At-Turaif citadel. However, this looks set to change as the country’s de facto leader, Mohammed Bin Salman (widely known as MBS), plans to revive Diriyah as part of his vision for the country’s future. 

The regeneration of Diriyah joins the ‘giga project’ portfolio of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund — the others being Neom, Red Sea Global, Qiddiya and Roshn. While most of these involve carving futuristic cities out of the desert, Diriyah’s regeneration plans hark back to its historic magnetism. 

“The vision for Diriyah is to create a human-centric community for 120,000 people that is inspired by the At-Turaif [World Heritage site],” says Guy Perry, a trained architect and president of the Diriyah Development Company, which is in charge of regenerating the area. 

Lifestyle destination

Accordingly, local authorities are using a SAR237bn ($63.2bn) redevelopment project to turn Diriyah into “the Saudi’s premier lifestyle destination to visit, live, work, shop, dine and celebrate the wonder of the kingdom’s rich heritage and culture”, according to its official website. The project has already lined up international partners to contribute to the site’s prospective shopping, cultural and hospitality offerings, and about 20 restaurants are already operating at the Bujairi terrace that opened just across from At-Turaif.

Mr Perry echoes the project’s ambition. 

“The average life expectancy in most countries in the Middle East is in the mid to upper 70s, which is low for countries with the kind of wealth they have,” he says. “That’s because the lifestyle over the past few decades has taken a toll on people’s wellbeing. They don’t get enough exercise, they may not be eating very well [and] the sense of building communities has been lost.

“In Diriyah we are going to focus on a physically engaging environment — rather than a 15-minute city, we are targeting a 10-minute city [where every services is within a 10-minute walking distance]; we are going to focus on building very strong communities. I want this to be a neighbourhood where life expectancy is in the low 90s,” he says, adding that after it gains a reputation as the healthiest place to live, commercial success will naturally follow.

With the House of Saud already having revived its fortunes since regaining control over most of the Arabian peninsula in the mid-1920s, MBS now wants to revive the dynasty’s birthplace. If he is successful, Diriyah’s history will have come full circle.

This article first appeared in the April/May 2023 print edition of fDi Intelligence.

The article was amended to reflect that the total amount of investment that Diriyah wants to mobilise is $63.2bn and not SAR63.2bn, as originally mentioned by the company's website and quoted in the original article.