V Line Dubai

[Shameka Roessler]

With its proposed width of only 656 feet, the linear city will rely primarily on its height to encompass its residents and a host of modern trappings, such as a high-speed train to connect sections of the 106-mile city.

When complete, the new city will span 13 square miles (34 square kilometers) across the desert to become a literal oasis, according to the press release. Architectural renderings show one building with two distinct sides of mirrored buildings that incorporates a verdant space in the middle filled with water features and plants. The plans were designed by American company Morphosis.

Although a timeline was not part of The Line's announcement, initial earthwork began in October 2021, and it is expected that the first residents will begin moving in by the year 2030. This deadline was shared as part of a larger countrywide improvement plan dubbed Vision 2030 that is intended to draw 100 million annual visitors and keep Saudi Arabia in the running against travel hot spots like its Gulf neighbors of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Along with The Line, there are plans to build a network of airports as well as the world's largest green energy plant. The area is intended to become so self-sufficient that it is being referred to as a "country within a country" where residents will be called "Neomians" rather than "Saudis."

"NEOM will be a place for all people from across the globe to make their mark on the world in creative and innovative ways. NEOM remains one of the most important projects of Saudi Vision 2030, and our commitment to delivering The Line on behalf of the nation remains resolute," claimed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in the July 25, 2022 press release.

Although The Line is a futuristic and ambitious project, critics of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 initiative say the attempt to transition from a crude oil economy to one powered by tourism overlooks the country's most available resources, namely its competitive advantages in higher education and research.

The urban design of the planned city gas also come under fire. Although The Line aims to provide "new and imaginative solutions" for "livability and environmental crises," as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman put it, some argue the design is inherently flawed.

Here's how that inefficiency plays out in daily life: "If we randomly pick two people in The Line, they are, on average 57 kilometers apart. In Johannesburg, which is 50 times larger in area, two random people are only 33 kilometers apart."

The Line (stylised THE LINE; Arabic: ذا لاين) is a linear smart city under construction in Saudi Arabia in Neom, Tabuk Province, which is designed to have no cars, streets or carbon emissions.[2][3]

The city is one of the nine announced regions of Neom and is a part of Saudi Vision 2030 project, which Saudi Arabia claims will create around 460,000 jobs and add an estimated $48 billion to the country's GDP.[2] The Line is planned to be the first development of a $500 billion project in Neom. As part of the construction process, thousands of people have been forcibly moved to make way for the project and villages have been razed.[4]

The original plans were for the city to be 170 kilometres (110 mi) long and accommodate a population of 9 million (25% of Saudi Arabia's 2022 population of 35.5 million) by 2030.[5] According to a 2024 Bloomberg report, this was later scaled down to a population of 300,000,[6] housed in 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi) by 2030.[7] Saudi officials denied this claim and stated that the project was continuing as planned.[8]

The Line is eventually planned to be 170 kilometres (110 miles) long.[3][9][10] It could stretch from the Red Sea approximately to the city of Tabuk and could have nine million residents, resulting in an average population density of 260,000 per square kilometre (670,000/sq mi).[5] By comparison, Manila, the world's most densely populated city in 2020, had a density of 44,000 per square kilometre (110,000/sq mi).[11] 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 height of 500 metres (1,600 ft).[5] 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 plan is for the city to be powered entirely by renewable energy.[9] It will consist of three layers, one on the surface for pedestrians, one underground for infrastructure, and another underground for transportation.[2] Artificial intelligence will monitor the city and use predictive and data models to find ways to improve daily life for its citizens,[2] with residents being paid for submitting data to The Line.[12]

On 5 April 2024, Bloomberg News reported that the project has been scaled back due to restrictions over funding by the PIF. Bloomberg cited Saudi officials as expecting a 2030 completion of a 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi) section of the city which would host less than 300,000 residents, a reduction of more than 98%.[14]

The first plan for The Line was announced on 10 January 2021 by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a presentation that was broadcast on state television.[3] Earthworks began in October 2021, and crews working on the project were projected to move in during 2024.[17] As of July 2022[update], the first phase of the project was scheduled to be completed in 2030.[5] Bin Salman, as chairman of the Neom board of directors, released a statement and promotional video on 25 July 2021 which led to more widespread media coverage of the project.[18] This raised questions about the merits of the design and environmental issues, with critics concerned that the project would create a "dystopian"[19] and "artificial" facility[20] that had already displaced the Huwaitat indigenous tribe[21][22] and would impact the migration of birds and wildlife.[23]

The Line will consist of connected communities called modules. The total structure will consist of 135 modules, each 800 metres (2,600 ft) in length and 500 metres (1,600 ft) tall.[24] In October 2022, drone footage released by Ot Sky confirmed that construction on The Line was underway, with excavation taking place along the entire length of the project.[25]

By March 2023, more than 4,500 piles had been driven in module 43, reaching a peak of 60 piles per day. Piling work then shifted towards modules 45, 46 and 47 which are located at the marina. Excavation of about 1 million cubic metres (35 million cubic feet) of earth is taking place each week at the marina.[27]

The design includes a marina twice the size of existing marinas, on the northern side of the buildings, away from the sea. The plan calls for a tunnel and canal to be made through The Line, large enough for large cruise ships to pass through. Construction started in April 2022, aiming to open to visitors and residents by 2030. As of February 2024 over 90 million cubic metres of material has been moved.[citation needed] [28]

Early plans proposed an underground railway with 510-kilometre-per-hour (317 mph) trains that could travel from one end of The Line to the other in 20 minutes. As of 2023 short tunnels have been dug for the start of the railway, and a train is in a prototype stage of development.[29]

In April 2024 it was reported that the project had been "scaled back" after foreign direct investment investors had not "bought into the crown prince's vision", according to Torbjorn Soltvedt, principal analyst at risk consultancy Maplecroft. Fluctuating global oil prices had contributed to the decision.[6]

The Line is now expected to be reduced to a short section at the western end 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi) long, a 98.6% reduction from the original design, with a population of 300,000 rather than the intended 1.5 million.[6]

The Saudi minister of economy and planning rejected the claims of scaling back. He said in an interview during World Economic Forum special meeting in Riyadh that "For NEOM, the projects, the intended scale is continuing as planned. There is no change in scale".[30]

In an interview with Dezeen, associate professor Marshall Brown at Princeton University said he believed that in such large-scale urban planning, it would be difficult to achieve the slick, futuristic aesthetic seen in the concept art because of the large number of factors involved; for example, one of the images depicts a picnic on a 200-metre-high (660 ft) ledge, which would probably be dangerous in real life.[31] Hlne Chartier of C40 Cities compared The Line to other unrealised linear city projects, such as the 1882 design by Soria and a 1965 proposal for a linear settlement in New Jersey.[31] Dutch architect Winy Maas said that while he would love to live in such an environment, its profile as seen in the concept art was monotonous, and he believed it would facilitate unfavorable wind flow through the interior.[31]

Philip Oldfield of the University of New South Wales said that the quality of life would probably come down to whether the city was well-managed, rather than to its visual flair.[31] Oldfield said the project would have a carbon footprint of about 1.8 gigatonnes (2,000 million short tons) of CO2 equivalent in the glass, steel, and concrete, because "you cannot build a 500-meter-tall [1,600 ft] building out of low-carbon materials". He said the 170-kilometre (110-mile) profile would create a large-scale barrier to adjacent ecosystems and migratory species similar to that created by highways, and the mirrored exterior facade would be dangerous for birds.[31]

Researchers from the Vienna Complexity Science Hub suggested that a circular city of a 3.3 km (2.1 mi) radius would have much shorter commuting times than a linear city. The average distance between 2 inhabitants of a linear city is 57 km (35 mi) as opposed to 2.9 km (1.8 mi) for a circular city. In a linear city each inhabitant has only 1.2% of the population in walking distance as "people are as far away from others as possible", as opposed to 24% in a circular city. In a linear city walking and cycling will not be popular and the travel time in the fast train will be disproportionately long, while a compact circular city allows active mobility and fast trains are not needed. The required density in a circular city would be much lower, which would allow building it with existing technology and reduce the environmental footprint of buildings. A railway line disruption would immobilize a linear city, but have less impact on a circular city.[32]

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