Back to reality for Neom? The project for the futuristic megacity of Saudi Arabia, which was to extend over 170 kilometers in mountainous and desert terrain by 2030 and house two massive skyscrapers covered in mirrors, has been scaled down by the Saudi authorities, according to the information from the American media
Bloomberg
, at the beginning of April. It should ultimately only be 2.4 kilometers long in 2030.
Called “The Line”, the two immense parallel skyscrapers, 500 meters high, are to form the center of the city on the Red Sea, in the northwest of the country. It is a $500 billion flagship project of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler, who seeks to diversify the oil country's economy.
The two towers were expected to accommodate 1.5 million residents by 2030 and nine million by 2045, banking on a demographic boom needed to make Saudi Arabia an economic power capable of competing in all sectors. But according to the American media, the figure has been revised downwards and only 300,000 people are expected to live there by then. A contractor has even started to lay off some of the workers he employs on the site.
“Zero gravity urban planning”
Until now, the futuristic megacity Neom had mainly made the headlines for “The Line”, but doubts about the economic and environmental feasibility of the project have marred its progress.
With its flying taxis and domestic robots, Neom has attracted a lot of attention since its first announcement in 2017, even if architects and economists have questioned its feasibility. Initially, the project was presented as a regional
“
Silicon Valley
”
, a biotechnology and digital center spanning 26,500 square kilometers. The prince had outlined an even more ambitious vision, describing a car-free utopian city, the most livable
“on the entire planet”
. The idea being to rethink urban life on an area of only 34 square kilometers to respond to the
“crises of habitability and the environment”.
With a width of only 200 meters, “The Line” must respond to uncontrolled urban sprawl that is harmful to the environment, by superimposing houses, schools and parks, according to the model of “zero gravity urban planning”. The cost of the first phase, which extends until 2030, was estimated at 1,200 billion Saudi riyals (around 297 billion euros) by Prince Mohammed bin Salman.