King Salman Park

King Salman Park is a large-scale urban park and district under construction in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia¹ built on the grounds of the old airport. Envisioned as a green heart of Riyadh and branded as ‘Beyond a Park’², the upcoming project will be the largest urban park in the world³ spanning an area of 13.3 square kilometers. As part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030ⁱ, King Salman Park will not only become a ‘a sanctuary of nature, but also a hub for culture, work and life’⁴. In particular, the project seeks to achieve the following five objectives⁵:

• Develop strategically located ‘green oasis for Riyadh residents and visitors’;
• Introduce an innovative concept for urban parks aimed at fostering a healthy lifestyle and encouraging interaction with nature;
• Enhance the city’s green cover and mitigate urban heat;
• Establish an ‘attractive urban area and vibrant hub with events and activities’;
• Foster cultural venues to strengthen the community’s interest in art.

To deliver the aforementioned objectives, its masterplan proposes ‘a series of central public open areas surrounded by new mixed-use developments, forming a vibrant and sustainable urban district’⁶. Additionally, 12 square kilometers of land is allocated for green space, where 1 million plants are to be planted, incorporating the following elements:

• Environmental elements: The green and open areas of the park cover over 9.3 square kilometers, and include a ‘wadi’ (valley) of 0.8 square kilometer leading towards the park’s center. They also include an internal ‘urban loop’ which is a circular promenade framing the park, with a length of 7.2 kilometers, designed for walking and cycling. Landmarks and major facilities will be constructed along the loop. Various water features are also planned, covering an area of over 0.3 square kilometers⁷.
• Royal Art Complex: Spanning 0.4 square kilometers, this includes the Royal institute of Traditional Arts, the Museum of World Cultures, a specialized Arts and Culture library, and a National theater with a seating capacity of 2,300⁸.
• Cultural Facilities: Comprises of 7 different museums, such as the Aviation Museum, Astronomy and Space Museum, Museum of Plants, Virtual Reality Museum, and Architecture Museum. It also consists of plazas covering a total area of 0.04 square kilometers for hosting different events and exhibiting artworks⁹.
• Sports and entertainment facilities Include a Royal Golf Course covering an area of 0.85 square kilometers, a sports complex on an area of 0.05 square kilometers, a virtual reality court, a sky diving center, an equestrian center, a 0.1 square kilometer amusement park, and a 0.14 square kilometer aquapark¹⁰.
• The Visitor Pavilion: Includes environmental, cultural, and educational centers covering an area of 0.09 square meters¹¹. It will also consist of a 360 degree terrace overlooking the park, interactive exhibits about the park’s elements, meeting rooms and multipurpose halls, a plant nursery, restaurants and cafe¹².
• Housing, Hospitality and Business: The urban district integrated into the park includes around 12000 residential units, 16 hotels with a total of 2300 rooms, and 0.5 square kilometers of retail space¹³.
• Public Facilities: These include mosques, police, healthcare, educational and social facilities, public libraries, 0.28 square kilometers of parking spaces, service roads, walkways and pathways, district cooling plant among others¹⁴.

In terms of accessibility, the development will be linked to several main roads, and supported by the King Abdulaziz Public Transport Projectⁱⁱ, a sustainable public-transport-oriented development, running through five stations on the Green Line of Riyadh Metro, and 10 stations of Riyadh Bus network¹⁵.

King Salman Park is one of the four initiatives launched by King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in Riyadh on 19 March 2019, with an estimated $23 billion in government funding (along with the Sports Boulevard, Riyadh Art, and Green Riyadh)¹⁶. The King Salman Park Foundation (KSPF), chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, is responsible for the construction and operation of the park¹⁷. Omrania and Henning Larsen Architects collaborated to design a master plan¹⁸. Local contractors Nesma & Partners and Al-Rashid Trading & Contracting Company (RTCC) won contracts for the park’s landscaping totaling approximately $2.5 billion¹⁹. Additionally, the local Modern Building Leaders was chosen to construct the estimated SR7.5 billion ($2 billion) Royal Arts Complex within the park²⁰. The King Salman Park Real Estate Fund, launched in 2023 to develop a mixed-use real estate on plots of land in the park, is considered ‘the first public-private partnership that is managed and funded entirely by the private sector’²¹.

The project is estimated to create thousands of skilled jobs and is currently under construction in three main phases representing three segments of the project²²:

• Phase one, situated in the western area, spans 7.3 million square meters.
• Phase two, located in the eastern area, encompasses 6 million square meters.
• Phase three, positioned to the north, covers an area of 3.6 million square meters²³.