Rome wasn’t built in a day – a timeless adage that reminds us that great achievements require patience, persistence, and time. In the modern context, we need look no further than Dubai’s meteoric rise from a humble pearl-diving settlement to a global Instagram metropolis to understand that urban and economic transformation, while possible, demands both vision and patience.
Now, as Saudi Arabia embarks on its ambitious Vision 2030 journey, it’s worth examining the realities of large-scale national transformation through the lens of historical precedent.
The Dubai Blueprint: A 60-Year Overnight Success
Dubai’s transformation didn’t happen in a flash, despite how it might appear to today’s visitors. The foundations were laid in the 1960s when the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum began dredging the Dubai Creek, a seemingly simple infrastructure project that would eventually catalyze the emirate’s trading capabilities. The Dubai World Trade Centre, now dwarfed by the Burj Khalifa, stood as the city’s lone skyscraper for years after its completion in 1979.
It wasn’t until the late 1990s and early 2000s that Dubai’s development kicked into high gear, resulting in the iconic skyline that we all know so well today.
Saudi Arabia’s Vision: Ambition Meets Reality
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 represents perhaps the most ambitious national transformation program in modern history. From NEOM’s futuristic plans to the development of the Red Sea Project, from the cultural opening marked by cinemas and concerts to the diversification of the economy – the scope is unprecedented.
However, the Kingdom is learning what Dubai discovered decades ago: transformation is a complex dance of multiple factors:
- Cultural Evolution
- While infrastructure can be built quickly, social change requires generational shifts
- Communities need time to adapt to new ways of living and working
- Traditional values need to find harmony with modern aspirations
- Economic Realities
- Diversifying an oil-dependent economy requires creating entirely new industries
- Building a robust private sector takes time
- Developing a local workforce with new skills isn’t an overnight process
- Infrastructure Development
- Major projects like NEOM require not just construction but entire ecosystems
- Sustainable urban development needs careful planning and execution
- Transportation networks, utilities, and services must grow organically
The Virtue of Patience
What sets Saudi Arabia’s journey apart is not just its scale but its compressed timeframe. While Dubai’s transformation spanned nearly six decades, Saudi Arabia aims to achieve similar – if not greater – changes in less than half that time.
This accelerated timeline has led to both impressive achievements and inevitable adjustments:
- Tourism numbers are growing, but at a pace that allows for infrastructure to catch up
- Foreign investment is increasing, though investors are taking measured approaches
- Cultural changes are happening, but with consideration for social harmony
Looking Forward
The Kingdom’s leadership is showing signs of understanding this balance. Recent adjustments to megaproject timelines and more focused approaches to economic diversification suggest a maturing vision – one that acknowledges that sustainable transformation requires patience.
As Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman noted in a recent project review, “We are not just building cities, we are building futures.” This perspective acknowledges that true transformation goes beyond physical infrastructure to encompass social, economic, and cultural dimensions.
The Wisdom in Taking Time
Perhaps the greatest lesson from both Rome and Dubai is not just that greatness takes time, but that the time taken becomes an essential part of the success story. It allows for:
- Organic growth and natural market evolution
- Community buy-in and cultural adaptation
- Sustainable development rather than rapid but unstable growth
- Learning and adjustment of strategies based on real-world feedback
Conclusion
Saudi Arabia’s journey is not a race against time but a journey toward sustainable transformation. While the Kingdom may need to adjust some of its ambitious timelines, this should be seen not as a setback but as a sign of strategic maturity.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Dubai wasn’t built in a decade. And Saudi Arabia’s transformation will take its own time – not because of any shortcoming, but because lasting change, done right, demands nothing less.
The Kingdom’s path forward might be taking longer than initially planned, but it’s increasingly clear that this pace might just be exactly what’s needed for sustainable, meaningful change.
