Introduction
Mecca is a holy city located east of the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Makkah is the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). It returned after Muhammad migrated to Medina.
Religion
The history of Makkah goes back to Prophet Abraham who built the Kaaba with the assistance of his son Ishmael (peace be upon him). Since then Makkah is a religious place. And the importance of Makkah increased after the prophet Muhammad started his mission on Islam. Because of that, the Moslem people must go to Mecca once in their lifetime if they have the capability of good health and money, this is known as Hajj. Lots of people go to Mecca to pray in the mosque throughout the year. A large number of Muslims visit Mecca during Ramadan with the aim of remuneration. Mecca’s population is generally a multiple of more than double during the month of Ramadan.
This is because there are approximately 2 million visitors each year to Mecca for pilgrimage, which is imposed on the Islamic religion. Mecca Mosque is the largest mosque in the world. In the middle of the mosque is the Kaaba, which all Muslims face when making their prayers. Islamic history begins from the Grand Mosque and usually gets bigger and bigger because of the number of Muslims around the world.
Today, their expansion includes a new 577-meter tower, which is considered an investment for income due to the mosque being one of the tallest buildings in the world. It ends during this year 2010. There are also new projects surrounding the mosque which include shopping malls, hotels, and apartments with a high density to meet the growing demand for housing in times of pilgrimage and the month of Ramadan. Many of the people prefer living in housing near the Grand Mosque to do all the five prayers imposed on Muslims in the mosque every day in the Grand Mosque.
The patterns of residential areas
The patterns of residential areas have dramatically developed through three ways, starting from central business district “CBD” then into old urban areas and finally, it ends up with the new urban areas or modern urban areas. The first pattern is a central business district, in this pattern the shape has been affected by the natural topography of the city of Makkah. As you notice from the map of Makkah the surrounded areas of the interior city go with contour lines as well as its narrow roads and streets. It has been drawn as an organic shape that has involved the thoughts of people as they develop these streets to create a lovely pedestrians environment. However, this organic shape has led to climate change as the local materials have been used in buildings such as mud and wood.
The second pattern is old urban areas this pattern is a continuation of the CBD’s pattern, they still have the organic shape but the materials that are used in building have been developed as well as the appearance of buildings. In other words, the arts that have decorated the buildings have led to the development. Also, the Roshan spreads along with buildings. In addition, the Roshan is assembled, to clarify the upper and lower parts were for decoration purposes. The louvers control airflow, sunshine, and privacy. Also, Roshan reflects the Islamic rule of the right of the way; it is always located on the first floor and above, never at the ground level floor so that it does not interfere with people walking on the street. The last pattern is more about modern area planning, at this stage of planning the pattern of the city has overlapped with the topography as well as it has been shaped in a grid pattern. Technology played an important role in involving this pattern, as buildings that reach the mountains also known as skyscrapers started to be a part of it thus affecting the shape of the city of Makkah.
Economy
In the past, the economy of Mecca’s inhabitants depended on trade between the Levant and Yemen during winter and summer. Now the economy of Mecca partly depends on pilgrims who are coming to Mecca each year and who bring with them some goods to sell in Mecca.there are also several commercial activities operating in Mecca during the Hajj period such as rental housing, restaurants, services, gift and local materials, which are taken to pilgrims as gifts. There are also some factories in the city, which cover the production of the surrounding cities Makkah.
Education
There are several scientific institutes in Mecca, and one of the most important is the Umm Al Qura University campus, which is a campus in the city. Due to the increased number of students, there was a need for expansion. Since it does not have enough land near the city, the old site has been chosen as a new location at the edge of the city. That had an impact on the neighborhood near the new location where there has been considerable urban growth thus increasing the value of land in the area near the University. This land has been sought after by members of the university and the students.
Culture
The biggest factor affecting the culture of Mecca is a pilgrimage. This is where Millions of people visit Mecca every year from places with different cultures. They, therefore, have an impact on the culture of local people in Mecca. The holy city of Mecca is a city of diverse cultures, where some pilgrims coming from different countries, especially poor, such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sudan, and Ethiopia, and some countries in South and North Africa prefer to stay in Makkah. It can also be noted that there is diversity in customs and traditions among the inhabitants of Mecca, such as food and tone.
The physical environment in the traditional neighborhood of the city of Mecca has contours and narrow roads where the design of old buildings supports social life dramatically. This does not support the movement of vehicles but supports the movement of pedestrians in large numbers. On the other hand; the new neighborhood supports the movement of vehicles. It is characterized by the new neighborhoods in the city which provide roads and longitudinal positions for cars.
Transportation
Transportation is one of the fundamental principles that affect the shape of the holy city “Makkah”. However; the system of transportation in Makkah has come through many steps that have significant changes in the foundation of Makkah’s plan as well as the pattern of the city. The first principle is camel riding, actually camels’ “cranes” are associated more with the trading of goods. To clarify that in the early history, movements from one place to another were very simple as using foot or animals such as camels, so by this kind of movement system the roads and streets at that time had to deal with that kind of system. For example, as you move into the roads that lead directly into the holy Mosque, you will experience that feeling of being included in the environment of the street with narrow access and multi-usage of the streets’ environments. Although the size of these streets is not sufficient enough, at some stages it does provide other essential factors that help movement flooding and provides different angles of shade. The second principle is the usage of cars, since cars began to move into the city, the streets became more and more widely as well as spreading the settlements of Makkah further from the interior city. These settlements have been linked with long streets and roads that go in a circle shape around the huge mountains. To sum up, nowadays Makkah’s streets have improved in different shapes and styles due to the technology, for instance, some tunnels go through the mountains so they have shorted the travel time.