Founded in 1980, with permanent headquarters in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, The Arab Urban Development Institute (AUDI) is a regional, non-governmental, non-profit urban research, technical and consulting organization. Audi is the technical and scientific arm of the Arab Towns Organization (ATO), has an active membership of more than 400 Arab cities and towns representing 22 Arab states.
A major goal of the Institute is the enhancement of the quality of municipal services in Arab towns and cities. This is achieved through professional and technical support to municipalities, and municipal officials and administrators. The Institute is also dedicated to the improvement and preservation of the character and heritage of Arab Towns.
Objectives
AUDI seeks to achieve the following objectives:
- Enhance the Arab city standard while maintaining its identity, historical characteristics and architectural, physical and cultural heritage as well as highlighting its originality and distinctive features.
- Foster communication and cooperation among Arab cities, ATO, and other cities and organizations that have similar concerns.
- Identify the problems that confront Arab cities and municipalities and seek solutions for difficulties that constrain their development. This is achieved by conducting scientific and technical expertise, and through activating AUDI’s scientific and practical activities to the city at its request.
- Conduct studies and research on the economic, social, technical, physical and environmental aspects of Arab cities.
- Provide consultative professional services to Arab cities in the fields of urban planning, housing and municipal services, as well as other fields of AUDI interest.
- Introduce the Arab city to the world community through its present and future administrative features as well as displaying its various historical stages
- Capacity building by preparing qualified personnel to administer the cities through modern scientific means and approaches.
- Establish information and documentation center(s) to collect information, documents and statistics, and to classify, analyze and process them according to modern scientific systems.
The Arab Urban Development Institute is an active member of major international town planning and management organizations (see list below), and a regular participant in their town and municipal planning and development, educational and training programs which are made available to Arab cities’ members.
· American Planning Association, USA
· American Public Works Association USA
· Association of European Schools of Planning, Switzerland
· Association of Town Centre Management, United Kingdom
· Commonwealth Association of Public Administration and Management, Canada
· Institute of Urban Design, USA
· International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration (IASIA), Belgium
· International City /County management Association , USA
· International Federation of Roads (IRF), USA
· International Network for Urban Development (INTA), Netherlands
· National Water Research Institute, Canada
· Royal institute of Public Administration, UK
· Town & Country Planning Association, UK
· World Council for Building Research Studies and Documentation, Netherlands
· International Environmetrics Society (IES), Canada
· International Federation for Housing & Planning/IFHP, Netherlands
· International Solid Waste Association, Netherlands
· World Association of Major Metrop0lises (WAMM), France
· Middle East Studies Association, USA