The Line, Saudi Arabia

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The Line
ذا لاين
City
Map
Coordinates: 28°17′15″N 34°50′42″E / 28.28750°N 34.84500°E / 28.28750; 34.84500Coordinates: 28°17′15″N 34°50′42″E / 28.28750°N 34.84500°E / 28.28750; 34.84500
Country Saudi Arabia
ProvinceTabuk
CityNeom
AnnouncedJanuary 10, 2021; 2 years ago (2021-01-10)
Founded byMohammed bin Salman
SeatHouse of Saud
Government
 • DirectorNadhmi Al-Nasr[1]
Area
 • Total34 km2 (13 sq mi)
Dimensions
 • Length170 km (110 mi)
 • Width0.2 km (0.1 mi)
Elevation
500 m (1,600 ft)
Population
(anticipated)
 • Total9,000,000
 • Density260,000/km2 (690,000/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+03 (Arabian Standard Time)
WebsiteOfficial website

The Line (Arabic: ذا لاين) is a proposed smart linear city in Saudi Arabia in Neom, Tabuk, which is designed to have no cars, streets or carbon emissions.[2][3][4][5] The 170-kilometre (110 mi) long city is part of Saudi Vision 2030 project, which Saudi Arabia claims will create 380,000 jobs and add $48 billion to the country's GDP.[2] The Line is planned to be the first development in Neom, a $500 billion project.[6][7] The city's plans anticipate a population of 9 million.[8]

As of October 2022, excavation work had started along the entire length of the project.

The project has faced criticism over its impact on the environment and the current population of the area, as well as doubts about its technological and economic viability.

Proposal

Upon completion, The Line will be 170 kilometres (110 mi) across and will preserve 95% of the nature within Neom.[3][4][9] It stretches from the Red Sea, approximately to the city of Tabuk, on the Hejaz railway. It is planned to have nine million residents, resulting in a population density of 260,000 people per square kilometer.[8] By comparison, Manila was the world's most densely populated city as of 2019, with a density of 44,000/km2.[10] The Line's plan consists of two mirrored buildings with an outdoor space in between, having a total width of 200 metres (660 ft) and a total height of 500 metres (1,600 ft).[8] This would make it the 3rd tallest building in the country, after the Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower and the proposed Jeddah Tower, and approximately the 12th tallest building in the world. The city will be divided into nodes. All daily services are designed to be reachable within a 5-minute walk.[11]

The city will also be powered entirely by renewable energy.[4] The Line will consist of three layers, including one on the surface for pedestrians, one underground for infrastructure, and another underground for transportation.[2] The transportation layer will include a high-speed rail system, which is claimed to allow people to go from one side of the city to the other side in 20 minutes. Without accounting for stops, this would require an average speed of 512 km/h, which is faster than any existing high-speed rail at the time of announcement.[11] Artificial intelligence will monitor the city and use predictive and data models to figure out ways to improve daily life for citizens in The Line,[2] with residents being paid for submitting data to The Line.[12]

Estimated building cost is US$100–200 billion (400–700 billion SAR),[9] with some estimates as high as $1 trillion.[13] It is claimed by the Saudi government that it will create 380,000 jobs, spur economic diversification, and contribute 180 billion SAR (US$48 billion) to domestic GDP by 2030.[8]

History

The plan for The Line was announced on January 10, 2021, by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a presentation that was broadcast on state television.[3] Initial earthwork began in October 2021, at which time its first residents were expected to move in during 2024.[14] As of July 2022, the first phase of the project is scheduled to be completed in 2030.[8]

Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, also Chairman of the NEOM Board of Directors, released a statement and promotional video on July 25, 2022, which led to more widespread media coverage of the project.[15] This also raised questions about the merits of the design and environmental issues, with critics concerned the project would create a "dystopian"[16] and "artificial" facility[17] that has already displaced the Huwaitat indigenous tribe[18][19] and would impact the migration of birds and wildlife.[20]

Excavation progress of The Line, October 2022

In October 2022, it was confirmed through drone footage given out by Ot Sky that construction on The Line was now underway, with extensive excavation works along the entire length of the project now taking place.[21]

Reception

According to an interview with Dezeen, associate professor Marshall Brown at Princeton University believes that such large-scale urban planning as the Line, and the conditions needed to achieve the slick futuristic aesthetic in the concept art, are highly impractical to achieve to the large number of factors at play.[22] Hélène Chartier of C40 Cities compared it to other unrealized linear city projects, such as the 1882 design by Soria and a 1965 proposal for a linear settlement in New Jersey.[22]

While Dutch architect Winy Maas said that he "would love to live in such a kind of environment", he characterized its profile, as seen in the concept art, as monotonous and as facilitating unfavorable wind flow through the intermediate space. Nonetheless, he praised the overall concept for tackling densification and of heat regulation inside the city.[22] As for quality of life, Philip Oldfield of the University of New South Wales said that the actual quality of life is most likely to come down to whether the city is well-managed, as opposed to the visual flair.[22]

However, Oldfield criticized that the project would have a carbon footprint of about 1.8 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent in the glass, steel, and concrete, because "you cannot build a 500-metre-tall building out of low-carbon materials." According to Oldfield, the 170-km profile would create a large-scale barrier to adjacent ecosystems and migratory species similar to that created by highways, and that the mirrored exterior façade would be dangerous for birds in particular.[22]

Digital rights researchers such as Vincent Mosco have characterized the city's data collection scheme as tantamount to a "surveillance city", due to arrangements that distort consent to sharing data, and because Saudi Arabia's poor human rights record implies potential abuse of data. In response, Joseph Bradley said that the Neom coordinators are resolving privacy issues, and that Saudi Arabia has a personal data protection law.[12]

Aside from the merits of the projected city, there has also been scrutiny of the actions of the Saudi government in pursuing the project. In October 2022, Shadli, Ibrahim and Ataullah al-Huwaiti, of the Howeitat tribe, were sentenced to death following their refusal to vacate their village as part of the NEOM megaproject.[23] Shadli al-Huwaiti is the brother of Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti, shot dead by security forces in April 2020 in his home in Al-Khariba, in the part of Tabuk province earmarked for NEOM, after he posted videos on social media opposing the displacement of local residents to make way for the project.[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ PROFILE: Who is Nadhmi al-Nasri, the new CEO of Saudi Arabia’s NEOM? Archived 2018-10-18 at the Wayback Machine, alarabiya.net.
  2. ^ a b c d Summers, Nick (2021-01-11). "Saudi Arabia is planning a 100-mile line of car-free smart communities". Engadget. Archived from the original on 2021-01-12. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  3. ^ a b c "Top Global Oil Exporter Saudi Arabia Launches Car-free City". Barrons. 2021-01-10. Archived from the original on 2021-01-11. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  4. ^ a b c "What is The Line? All you need to know about Saudi Arabia's plan for a futuristic zero-carbon city". Free Press Journal. Archived from the original on 2021-01-11. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  5. ^ "An Accelerator of human progress". NEOM. Archived from the original on 2020-12-08. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  6. ^ Tangermann, Victor (2021-01-12). "Saudi Arabia Is Building a Zero-Carbon City in a 100-Mile Straight Line". Futurism. Archived from the original on 2021-01-13. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  7. ^ McKay, Tom (2021-01-12). "Saudi Crown Prince Asks, Answers What if a City, But It's a 105-Mile Line". Microsoft News. Gizmodo. Archived from the original on 2021-01-13. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Saudi Arabia plans 100-mile-long mirrored skyscraper megacity". the Guardian. 27 July 2022. Archived from the original on 29 July 2022. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  9. ^ a b Rashad, Aziz El Yaakoubi, Marwa (2021-01-10). "Saudi Crown Prince launches zero-carbon city in NEOM business zone". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2021-01-10. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
  10. ^ "Philippine Population Density (Based on the 2015 Census of Population)". Philippine Statistics Authority. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  11. ^ a b "The Line – Saudi Arabia's Controversial 170-Km-Long Linear City of the Future". www.odditycentral.com. 2021-04-15. Archived from the original on 2021-04-17. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  12. ^ a b "FEATURE-Saudi 'surveillance city': Would you sell your data to The Line?". Reuters. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  13. ^ Nereim, Vivian (July 14, 2022). "MBS's $500 Billion Desert Dream Just Keeps Getting Weirder". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  14. ^ Nereim, Vivian (2021-10-31). "Saudi Arabia Starts Moving Earth for Its Futuristic Linear City". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 2022-03-04. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
  15. ^ "HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announces designs for THE LINE, the city of the future in NEOM". www.neom.com. Archived from the original on 2022-07-28. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  16. ^ Bantock, Jack; Brown, Benjamin (July 27, 2022). "Future or fantasy? Designs unveiled for one-building city stretching 106 miles in Saudi Arabia". CNN. Archived from the original on 2022-07-28. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  17. ^ Chappell, Bill (2022-07-26). "A 105-mile-long city will snake through the Saudi desert. Is that a good idea?". NPR. Archived from the original on 2022-07-29. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  18. ^ "This is what Saudi Arabia's 100-mile long emission-free smart city could look like". Engadget. Archived from the original on 2022-07-28. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  19. ^ Hurst, Luke (2022-07-27). "'The Line': Saudi Arabia unveils plans for two 170km-long skyscrapers". euronews. Archived from the original on 2022-07-28. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  20. ^ Alcido, Macy; Ramdeen-Chowdhury, Kamini. "The Jetsons Meet West World: Saudi Arabia's Smart City Promises Flying Taxis And No Carbon Emissions". www.theskimm.com. Archived from the original on 2022-07-29. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  21. ^ Ravenscroft, Tom (2022-10-19). "Drone footage reveals The Line megacity under construction in Saudi Arabia". Dezeen. Archived from the original on 2022-10-19. Retrieved 2022-10-19.
  22. ^ a b c d e "Sustainability and liveability claims of Saudi 170km city are "naive" say experts". Dezeen. 8 August 2022.
  23. ^ Rasool, Mohammed (October 11, 2022). "Saudi Arabia Sentences 3 Men to Death For Refusing to Vacate NEOM Development Site".
  24. ^ Younes, Ali (15 Apr 2020). "Saudi forces kill man who refused to give up property: Activists".

External links

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