Saudi Arabia’s plans to develop “The Line,” a smart linear city that would be built vertically, have no roads or automobiles and run entirely on renewable energy, were made public by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia in 2021.
The Saudi government has now made public renderings of what The Line may look like when it is finished. Only 200 meters (656 feet) wide, 500 meters (1,640 feet) tall, and 170 kilometers (105 miles) long were intended for the city. It will eventually be able to host up to 9 million people and have several villages enclosed in a glass facade stretching down the coast.
The Line’s designers pictured a city where facilities are only a five-minute walk away from inhabitants and where people naturally run into one another while going about their daily tasks.
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It won’t have any roads and won’t be able to accept automobiles, but it will have a high-speed rail system that will allow for end-to-end transportation in 20 minutes. It will also rely on a natural ventilation system to ensure that occupants have the perfect environment all year round.
In a statement, the Saudi Crown Prince said:
The plans for the city’s vertically structured neighborhoods, which were unveiled today, would upend the idea of flat, horizontal cities by preserving nature and improving livability for people. THE LINE will address the issues that modern urban living presents to humanity and shed light on better lifestyle options.
Additionally, according to The Wall Street Journal, foreign nationals hired to work on the project blasted the initiative’s administration for having unreasonable expectations and a blind eye to prejudice.
Riot Games was forced to rapidly reverse its decision to sign a sponsorship arrangement with the mega-city project as a result of the Neom issues. Neom was intended to be a major sponsor of Riot’s LEC esports tournament in Europe two years ago, but fan anger led the business to cancel the partnership just one day later.
