Some more details on Saudi Arabia's transformative Neom gigaproject have been revealed, including its ambitious timeline and how people will actually go about living in its incredible futuristic city, the Line.
To recap, Neom occupies a large chunk of land – around the size of Massachusetts or Belgium – in the Saudi desert and includes lots of different areas under construction, such as Treyam and Epicon, plus others. The idea behind this unprecedented construction boom is for Saudi Arabia to diversify its economy as oil usage is expected to be reduced in the coming years.
The Line itself is conceived as Neom's capital city. Reaching a height of 500 m (1,640 ft) and with a width of 200 m (656 ft), this skyscraper-like structure will eventually have a length of 170 km (105 miles) and consist of a futuristic city like interior with AI-controlled surveillance to keep track of everything from energy capacity to garbage requirements.
The new details were revealed during a series of talks taking place at the recent Davos World Economic Forum event, where the world's rich and powerful mingle and share ideas to drum up support and investment.
Neom representative Denis Hickey (the former cricketer) explained that the first phase of the Line is now well underway and that once it's complete – which should be by 2030 along with the Mukaab and the JEC Tower – it will have a length of 2.4 km (1.5 miles) and serve as home to around 300,000 people. The project is currently using much of the world's steel as piles are driven into the ground, while foundations are due to be poured soon. It's expected to "go vertical" later this year.
Hickey was keen to stress that the Line should be thought of more like a framework for a city and not a building, likening it to planning Manhattan. Another main topic of discussion was how residents will actually live. The current thinking is not so much that everyone will live in the Line 24/7, but that Line locals will venture down to terra firma to enjoy the surrounding scenery, a bit like how Manhattan residents take a stroll in Central Park. Hickey further mentioned that it could take "100 years or whatever" to eventually fill the Line with 9 million people, so this is very much a long-term project.
Transportation is a huge focus given that it will be a car-free city and the Davos talk additionally reasserted that renewable energy is very much the focus still. The plan is for it to eventually run 100% from solar power and wind power – though, of course, eventually leaves a lot of wiggle room. The Neom officials were also keen to champion its position near to the Suez Canal where a large amount of the world's shipping passes through.
Naturally, the talk didn't mention some the criticisms and concerns leveled at the Line and the wider Neom project, including widespread allegations of rights violations and worse.
That's the highlights, however you can check out the full talk below if so inclined, which also touches on other Neom projects in the region.
Source: Neom