Heritage and Identity: Neoliberal Mega-Projects in Mecca

This article investigates how mass urban development schemes have influenced changes in the urban identity and heritage of Mecca (Saudi Arabia) in connection with recent concepts of mega-events and hosting cities, event legacies, and hyper-identity. The study focuses on the impact of urban neoliberal redevelopment on cultural identity, city image, vernacular architecture, and city residents. This article analyses and compares the historical socio-political impact of mega-events and religious tourism through the concepts of mass gathering events, such as Hajj. It takes up a comprehensive analysis of one of Mecca’s recent state-sponsored urban developments, the Jabal Omar Development Project, and considers how this project’s developers responded to the city’s urban fabric. As an important sacred city for contemporary Islamic societies, and with an exceptionally cosmopolitan social fabric, Mecca’s rapid privatization exemplifies the new neoliberal urban condition led by a series of mega developments, such as hotels and malls, recently undertaken by the Saudi state. By outlining Mecca’s urban conditions, this article highlights the impact of twenty-first century neoliberal urbanism on Mecca’s urban fabric, socio-political context, and ‘new identity’.