Saudi Arabia’s Ambitious One Building City
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveils and ambitious reimagination of urban life in the form of a one building city, stretching over 106 miles of desert.
“The Line” is the name of the imagined futuristic city, which is presented as two paralleled mirror panels, taller than the Eiffel tower and the Empire State Building. Within the city walls, there will be no roads or cars: the city will run entirely on renewable energy. Sections of the line will instead be connected by a high speed rail that will maintain it’s goal of zero carbon emissions.
Whether the plans for Saudi Arabia’s city are actually set into motion, no one quite knows yet. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman originally proposed his vision for a new city, built from scratch, in 2017, though the project and blueprints have changed drastically since then, with this week’s unveiling quite advanced. Design mock ups appear to be something of a utopia.
“The Line” is the newest addition to the group of clean energy, futuristic cities that make up NEOM: bin Salman’s spanning metropolis project backed by $500 billion from the Saudi government. NEOM presents solutions to the challenges that the world faces today, envisioning a better way of life. There is significant skepticism around whether or not “The Line” as well as the other projects under the NEOM umbrella will ever become a reality.