The Importance of Experience Design (XD) to Cities in Saudi Arabia

Executive Summary

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 outlines a national transformation—one that demands not just economic diversification but a reimagining of the urban experience. As cities shift from oil-driven infrastructure to people-centered economies, Experience Design (XD) emerges as a core capability to shape this future. XD bridges function and feeling, system and soul. It ensures that cities are not only operationally efficient but also emotionally intelligent—enabling places where people belong, engage, and thrive.

This white paper explores how XD empowers Saudi cities to:

• Increase livability for diverse resident populations 
• Drive economic diversification through tourism, hospitality, and cultural economies 
• Preserve and elevate cultural identity in a rapidly modernizing environment 
• Align infrastructure, technology, and heritage under a unified vision of place 

It calls for a new urban paradigm—one in which Experience Design is embedded in policy, planning, architecture, governance, and citizen services—positioning Saudi Arabia not just as a global investor, but as a pioneer in human-centric urbanism.

1. Introduction: Why Experience Design Matters

What is Experience Design (XD)?

Experience Design is the strategic discipline of intentionally crafting how people interact with spaces, systems, and services across emotional, cognitive, and functional dimensions. In cities, it applies to everything from how a pedestrian navigates a public plaza, to how a pilgrim experiences spiritual ambience, to how a resident accesses services in a digital government portal.

Unlike traditional urban planning or architecture, XD does not start with the form—it starts with the feeling, and works backward to align touchpoints, infrastructure, and operations with desired emotional and behavioral outcomes. It is the glue between disciplines, the lens that centers the human journey.

Why Now—and Why Saudi Arabia?

Saudi Arabia is not just building cities—it is redefining what a city can be. Projects like NEOM, Qiddiya, The Red Sea Project, and the regeneration of historical urban cores signal a once-in-a-century leap.

But without integrated XD, such projects risk becoming functional yet forgettable. In a region where history, identity, and spiritual connection are foundational, XD ensures that cities retain their soul even as they scale. It enables:

• Seamless integration of tradition and innovation
• Urban environments that are intuitive, inclusive, and emotionally resonant
• Experiences that turn infrastructure into story, and design into citizen engagement 

2. The Role of XD in Urban Development

2.1. Enhancing Livability for Residents

Livability is more than roads, homes, and amenities—it is the sum of daily experiences. XD reorients urban development around people’s real lives:

• Human-Centered Infrastructure: Cities become navigable, intuitive, and enjoyable through tactile and emotional design. Riyadh’s King Salman Park, for example, goes beyond greenery by integrating programmable zones for art, wellness, and family engagement—creating micro-experiences that vary by age, mood, or time of day. 
• Multi-Sensory Public Realm: Experience Design considers sensory layers: soundscapes, light, shade, tactile surfaces, and even scent. In a hot climate, shade structures, water features, and night-time activations aren’t amenities—they’re emotional lifelines. 
• Cultural Localization in Neighborhood Design: Mixed-use developments like Diriyah Gate demonstrate how Najdi architecture, local materials, and spatial traditions can be retained even in modern real estate programs. XD ensures modernity is not a trade-off for identity. 
• Inclusion by Design: Urban XD ensures that cities support the diverse needs of women, children, the elderly, people with disabilities, and multicultural residents. That includes stroller-friendly streets, female-focused spaces, sensory-friendly environments, and universal design principles embedded in transport and housing. 

2.2. Driving Tourism and Economic Diversification

XD is a direct contributor to economic development—not just a design layer. It activates local economies through experience-led sectors:

• Destination Creation, Not Just Branding: XD curates immersive narratives across built environments. AlUla, for instance, integrates archaeological storytelling, luxury hospitality, and sustainable design to create a destination that is not only seen—but felt. 
• Smart Tourism Ecosystems: Experiences in cities like NEOM will be shaped by AI-driven personalization, mixed reality interfaces, and data-led itinerary generation. Experience Designers choreograph the logic, flow, and intimacy of such systems. 
• Experience-Driven Enterprise: When streets become stages, and districts become platforms for memory-making, micro-enterprises and creative businesses flourish. Food, crafts, retail, cultural performance, and art become part of an experience economy. 
• Pilgrimage Reimagined: Religious tourism is not just spiritual—it’s logistical, emotional, and sensory. XD helps modernize the pilgrim journey while preserving reverence—by redesigning arrival experiences, wayfinding, multilingual support, and spiritual ambience in places like Mecca and Madinah. 

2.3. Preserving and Projecting Cultural Identity

XD makes heritage interactive, interpretive, and living. It transforms culture from static documentation into dynamic, participatory encounters:

• Embedded Storytelling: In Jeddah’s Al-Balad district, for example, the revitalization process uses architecture, artisan pathways, and scent mapping to create narratives embedded in space. 
• Spiritual Atmosphere by Design: Lighting, acoustics, crowd behavior cues, and ceremonial routes can enhance religious experiences—turning cities into spiritual ecosystems rather than logistics zones. 
• Transgenerational Memory: Experience Design invites younger Saudis to not only witness but shape their cultural narrative—via digital heritage platforms, immersive performances, and maker-spaces that reinterpret old crafts into contemporary formats. 

3. Case Studies: XD in Action

3.1. NEOM: The Future of Urban Experience

NEOM is not a city. It is a proposition for rethinking urban life. Its vision of “cognitive cities” leverages predictive AI, embedded sustainability, and behavioral analytics to co-create experiences in real time.

• XD plays a foundational role in shaping how residents will interface with the city—through personalized mobility systems, biometric-enabled services, and nature-integrated zones designed for well-being.
• Rather than layering experience after infrastructure, NEOM designs from the inside out—from life journeys to built forms.

3.2. The Red Sea Project: Luxury Meets Ecology

The Red Sea Project demonstrates how XD can reconcile luxury tourism with ecological integrity.

• Guests engage in coral restoration dives, bioluminescence night tours, and immersive eco-villas designed around sightlines and sensory rhythm.
• Every touchpoint—welcome rituals, scent trails, tactile materials—are part of a choreographed emotional arc, blending Saudi hospitality with world-class environmental storytelling. 

3.3. Riyadh Art: Transforming Public Spaces

With over 1,000 public artworks, Riyadh Art is turning the capital into an open-air cultural encounter.

• XD is embedded through curation strategy, wayfinding, public interaction zones, and co-creation by artists and community.
• Art is not just decoration—it is a civic dialogue layered onto the public realm. 

3.4. Madinah Moments: Designing a Living Museum Experience

Madinah Moments is a flagship initiative that exemplifies how Experience Design can transform a historic city into a living museum without walls.

• The initiative reimagines Madinah’s urban fabric through a blend of spiritual narrative, heritage placemaking, and contemporary engagement. It turns streets, courtyards, mosques, and markets into stages for exploration and reflection.
• The City Living Museum integrates wayfinding, interpretive storytelling, interactive kiosks, AR-enhanced discovery, and seasonal activations—enabling visitors and residents alike to move through curated thematic zones such as Quba, Al-Salam Road, and Sayed Al Shuhada. 
• This approach invites residents and pilgrims to rediscover meaning in familiar places—layering spirituality, knowledge, and experience in ways that serve tourism, education, and national identity.

4. Challenges and Opportunities

4.1. Challenges

• Tradition vs Innovation: Cities risk aesthetic homogenization if global design tropes are adopted wholesale. XD helps localize innovation through contextual design. 
• Scalability and Consistency: Applying XD across megaprojects and existing neighborhoods requires adaptable methodologies and local capacity-building. 
• Governance Fragmentation: XD often falls between silos—urban planning, tech, tourism, heritage. Cross-functional governance and policy alignment are essential. 
• Measurement: Emotional impact and experience quality are hard to quantify—yet crucial. Without new metrics, XD may be undervalued in urban investment.

4.2. Opportunities

• AI and Behavioural Data: Predictive analytics can shape everything from crowd flows to daily rituals—enabling responsive urban systems. 
• Public-Private Co-Design Models: Cities can collaborate with local creatives, international firms, and citizen labs to co-create layered experiences. 
• Youth and Workforce Development: Training programs in XD can seed a new generation of Saudi placemakers, storytellers, technologists, and architects—anchoring a Made in Saudi creative economy. 
• Experiential Digital Twins: Cities can model emotional impact using immersive simulations—testing experiences before they’re built. 

5. Strategic Recommendations

1. Develop National Experience Design Guidelines: Codify XD principles into planning frameworks, real estate development policies, and cultural investment strategies. 
2. Establish XD Hubs in Key Cities: Anchor centers of excellence in Riyadh, Madinah, Jeddah, and Dammam to localize and test design standards and train regional talent. 
3. Institutionalize Experience Metrics: Create KPIs such as emotional resonance scores, cultural alignment indices, and journey satisfaction mapping. 
4. Align with Vision 2030 and Green Saudi Goals: Position XD as a critical enabler of sustainability, heritage preservation, and economic diversification. 
5. Create the Role of Chief Experience Officers in Municipalities: Elevate XD to a strategic function within city leadership—ensuring cross-sectoral alignment. 
6. Support Experience-Driven SMEs and Startups: Incubate businesses that deliver experiential content, services, and environments—boosting local GDP and employment. 

6. Conclusion: The City as an Experience

As Saudi Arabia builds its future, Experience Design ensures that cities are not only functional and beautiful—but meaningful, memorable, and magnetic.

XD offers a new way of seeing cities:

Not just as infrastructure, but as interfaces of emotion.

Not just as real estate, but as platforms for story, identity, and possibility.

If adopted strategically, Experience Design can align Saudi urbanism with the values of Vision 2030—making cities more humane, more competitive, and more culturally enduring.