What were once the grounds of Riyadh’s old airport will, in a few years, be turned into expansive spans of green space, and well-being and cultural areas that are aimed to put Saudi Arabia’s capital on the map of the world’s top-most healthy cities.

Called King Salman Park, it will be the biggest city parks in the world, and is very much in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 goals, which are to improve Riyadh’s ranking among the top 100 cities. Covering more than 13 sq km, it will combine a wide variety of activities including environmental, cultural, recreational and sports projects.

The landmark is being developed by Riyadh Development Authority (RDA) and is one of Riyadh’s four grand projects launched by King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia in March. These projects will be closely supervised by the Committee of Grand Projects, which is chaired by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence.

King Salman Park ... set to be the biggest city parks in the world.

“The park will have extensive green areas, open squares, sports compounds and an 18-hole Royal Golf course. To complement these amenities, private investors will be encouraged to build recreational, residential, commercial, business and hotel facilities,” says a spokesman for the project.

King Salman Park will significantly contribute to changing and improving the lifestyle of all Riyadh residents and will include buildings and facilities such as the Royal Art Complex, a national theatre, an opera house, art academies, as well as museums and galleries, he adds.

The park will enjoy a strategic location in the heart of Riyadh, linked to six main roads and highways. It will be connected to King Abdulaziz Public Transit Network through five metro stations on the Green Line and 10 bus stations of the Riyadh Bus Network. The multiple links will make the development easy to access from almost every part of the city.

King Salman Park will be home to thousands of people. Some 12,000 different types of residential units will be built in residential compounds over 1.6 million sq m. There will also be 16 hotels that will have 2,300 keys over areas covering 194,000 sq m. In addition, the park will offer 600,000 sq m of office compounds and 500,000 sq m of retail space.

Other amenities for residents include mosques, security, healthcare, educational and social centres, and public libraries, and car-parking buildings, among a host of facilities.

Valleys and rock formations at King Salman Park will provide open and recreational spaces for Saudi families.

The development will abound in environmental and cultural elements. There will be green areas and open spaces over 9.3 million sq m, gardens covering 400,000 sq m, a 7.2-km circular pathway for pedestrians, a valley area covering 800,000 sq m, and various water features over 300,000 sq m.

The Royal Art Complex will cover a massive area of more than 400,000 sq m and will be home to a 2,500-seat national theatre, five museums, an 8,000-seat outdoor theatre, three movie theatres, four art academies, and an educational cultural centre for children.

Among the park’s cultural facilities are seven museums including those for aviation, astronomy and space, science, forest, virtual reality, and architecture. There will be events squares covering 40,000 sq m, in addition to artworks and landmarks.

An environmental and cultural centre will be built over 80,000 sq m that will offer interactive shows about the park, multi-purpose halls, meeting rooms, plant nurseries, coffee shops and restaurants.

In a bid to promote a healthy lifestyle, King Salman Park will have various sports facilities including the Royal Golf Course covering more than 850,000 sq m in addition to 50,000 sq m of sports courts. Other sports facilities will include virtual reality courts, a sky diving centre, an equestrian centre, and running and biking routes.

Omrania has won an international competition to design King Salman Park. It will also be responsible for architecture and engineering, in addition to infrastructure engineering along with Salfo, and master-planning and urban design along with Henning Larsen.