With the jet age, Makkah has not only experienced growth in the amount of pilgrims during the Hajj, but in the actual population of the city as well. This is a result of the growing economic markets, created by the increased influx of pilgrims and the fairly strong Saudi Arabian economy. It has expanded spatially as well as numerically, and according to the Saudi Arabian Embassy, the city has a "remarkably high population density" for a Middle Eastern city, despite the spatial expansion.

Makkah's original name was "Bakkah", or narrow, in reference to the Valley of Abraham in which the city is nestled. Because of this major barrier to growth, the city has traditionally been almost linear, following the valley bed as seen in J. L. Burckhardt's map of Makkah from 1885 on the left. The growth follows the old roads which snake along the bottom of the valley going north-south. Very little of the previous patterns are evident today as the city has blossomed, ignoring the former barriers that once prevented growth.

The image to the right shows the eventual growth from B.C. to 1987. The inner pink represents the city before the common era up to 750 C.E., and the dark green inner city area is the growth form 750 to 1924. In 1932 the Saudi Arabian state was founded, and through infrastructure projects and guarantees of a safe Hajj, access to the city was greatly increased. On top of that, the jet age was not far behind. As you can see, it is during the period after 1924 that the city really started to grow. I can not stress enough the impact the jet age has had on Makkah. Increased access to the city, along with the immobility associated with a holy place, has enabled the city to explode. Finally, from the 1971 to 1987, when Makkah's commercial potential was beginning to be realized, the city went through even larger growth spurts.

This is evidenced by the newer growth of the city. With the much improved infrastructure, including a third ring-road completed in the late eighties, the suburbs have started to sprawl despite the inhospitable region surrounding Makkah. The yellow region in the map to the left is the built-up urban area as of 1985. The yellow and dark blue areas are those that have been built up by 1990 and 1995, respectively. As you can see, the city has clearly abandoned its former pattern marked by the growth along the valley bed. This growth has caused quite a bit of controversy within the Muslim world. Complaints that the city has abandoned it's old growth patterns for a Western concentric ring pattern (first articulated by E. W. Burgess in 1923), have plagued the Saudi Arabian government. Any city experiencing a similar incredibly large growth, with a continuously growing, stable economy (as seen below), has little choice but to follow this seemingly natural pattern. This dilemma is similar to the one faced by Islamic Architecture: how does a city acknowledge and take advantage of twentieth century urban issues without conforming to the Western models? Much of this exponential growth can be attributed to the push-pull scenario created by Saudi Arabia's strong economy, and the poor economies of many other Islamic nations. Growth will undoubtedly continue in a similar pattern and rate as long as the Saudi Arabian economy stays strong, and Islam and Muslim immigration continue to grow.

Click here for a modern map of Makkah