Abstract
Urban communities are considered a major outcome of the interactions between human and the environment from different environmental, social, religious and economic aspects. These aspects are within a specific temporal and geographic framework. However, because of progress in building materials and techniques, and developments in means of communication between peoples of the world, these communities were negatively affected, resulting in poor relationship to the basic factors upon which these communities are supposed to be built. Since planning requirements and controls play a role in determining the physical and architectural character of the urban areas and preserving it, the aim of the research is to evaluate this role in four urban communities in Riyadh.
The analytical study of these communities revealed several disadvantages, some of which are: the lack of attention by the regulations and guidelines to many important components of the urban clusters, thus resulting in poor harmony in the urban theme, poor support of pedestrian movement compared to other means of transportation, in addition to the absence of a specific skyline due to variations in the heights of buildings which affected the privacy of the inhabitants.
Accordingly, the study proposes a number of recommendations to re-formulate planning regulations and guidelines to better link the new urban communities to the environmental, social, religious, and economic aspects of the place and population