Abstract
This chapter highlights the challenges of rapid urbanization in Saudi Arabia and the implications of its burgeoning urban population on urban sustainability. The first section of the chapter reviews the trend of urbanization in the Third World, and Saudi Arabia in particular, and the factors responsible for rapid urban growth. The second section critically analyzes major urbanization challenges in Saudi Arabia and their impacts on the people and the environment. The final section assesses the extent to which some sustainability initiatives being implemented by the government are meeting the competing and sometimes conflicting urbanization challenges. The chapter concludes with some policy implications.