Jeddah is the region's most environmentally sustainable city, says new index

The 2015 inaugural ARCADIS Sustainable Cities Index examines 50 cities' performances based on People, Planet and Profit to estimate its sustainability

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 9 February 2015: Jeddah is the most environmentally sustainable city in the Middle East, according to the inaugural Sustainable Cities Index from ARCADIS, the leading global natural and build asset design and consultancy firm.

The Index, which was conducted by the Center for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) explores the three demands of social (People), environmental (Planet) and economic (Profit) to develop an indicative ranking of 50 of the world's leading cities. The 2015 report finds that no utopian city exists, with city leaders having to manage a complex balancing act between the three pillars of sustainability.

Middle East cities-index:

"Jeddah has one of the world's fastest growing populations and is currently under commission by relevant authorities to fast-track the city," said Hisham Malaika, Jeddah City Executive of Big Urban Clients at ARCADIS. "One of the key documents currently under commission is the Jeddah Strategic Master Plan which has earmarked ten target areas necessary for the city's development including Urban Territory & Land Use Planning, Transportation and Environment"

Jeddah ranked 43^rd out of 50 cities evaluated due to its growing population, increased number of pilgrims visiting each year and developing strategic and regional plans. Whilst Jeddah leads in the Middle East on Planet factors at 39^th, scoring particularly well for drinking water and sanitation and low levels of air pollution, the city falls behind on the People and Profit sub-indexes.

Overall, Middle East cities come to lowest of the overall rankings, taking three of the bottom ten places. Dubai leads in the Middle East at 33^rd, followed by Abu Dhabi at 34^th, Doha at 41^st, Jeddah at 43^rd and Riyadh at 44^th.

"Our world is changing at a faster pace than ever before. Developing technology, population growth and the emergence of a truly global economy mean that the notion of national borders is becoming less relevant. Instead, we see the concept of the 'global city' taking hold," Malaika adds. "The Sustainable Cities Index highlights the areas of opportunity for cities, to inform decision-making and hopefully make them more sustainable economically, environmentally and for the welfare of their inhabitants."

Overall the top ten and bottom ten cities in the 2015 ARCADIS Sustainable Cities Index are (the full rankings can be viewed at www.sustainablecitiesindex.com):

The Middle East and full global rankings can be viewed here.

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For further information please contact:
Julie Nguyen
PR and Communications - Middle East
ARCADIS EC Harris
Julie.nguyen@echarris.com
+971 (0)56 188 2465

The research was conducted by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (www.cebr.com) and examines 50 cities from 31 countries ranking them across a range of indicators to estimate the sustainability of each city. The cities included within this report were selected to provide an overview of the planet's cities, providing not only wide-ranging geographical coverage, but also a variety of levels of economic development, expectations of future growth and an assortment of sustainability challenges.

A detailed, evidence-based metric is derived to quantify each city's performance. The headline ranking can then be divided into three broad subcategories: People, Planet and Profit. These correspond to three dimensions of sustainability - social, environmental and economic and can be described as the triple bottom line.

About ARCADIS
ARCADIS is the leading global natural and built asset design and consultancy firm working in partnership with our clients to deliver exceptional and sustainable outcomes through the application of design, consultancy, engineering, project and management services. ARCADIS differentiates through its talented and passionate people and its unique combination of capabilities covering the whole asset life cycle, its deep market sector insights and its ability to integrate health & safety and sustainability into the design and delivery of solutions across the globe. We are 28,000 people that generate €3 billion in revenues. We support UN-Habitat with knowledge and expertise to improve the quality of life in rapidly growing cities around the world. www.arcadis.com

Rankings

The overall 2015 Sustainable Cities Index rankings are as below, with the full rankings available at: www.sustainablecitiesindex.com