Gallery: City of the future, Saudi Arabia’s ‘The Line’ revealed
Jason Saundalkar
According to His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Chairman of the NEOM Board of Directors, ‘The Line’ is a civilisational revolution that puts humans first, providing an unprecedented urban living experience while preserving the surrounding nature
The designs of The Line are said to embody how urban communities will be in the future, in an environment free from roads, cars and emissions
The city aims to run only on renewable energy and prioritise people’s health and well-being over transportation and infrastructure, as in traditional cities. It puts nature ahead of development and will contribute to preserving 95% of NEOM’s land
The Line will be 200m wide, 170km long and will sit 500m above sea level. The city will eventually accommodate nine million residents and will be built on a footprint of 34sqkm – the developer said this is unheard of when compared to cities of similar populations
The approach with The Line is said to differ from regular tall buildings; the concept layers public parks and pedestrian areas, schools, homes and places for work, so that people can move effortlessly and achieve their daily needs within five minutes
The Line will have an outer mirror facade that will provide its unique character, and allow even its small footprint to blend with nature, while the interior will be built to create extraordinary experiences and magical moments, according to the developer
The project will be developed by a team of world-renowned architects and engineers, led by NEOM. The city’s design will be completely digitised, and the construction industrialised to a large degree by significantly advancing construction technologies and manufacturing processes, NEOM said
Residents will have access to all facilities in The Line within a five-minute walk, in addition to a high-speed rail with an end-to-end transit of 20 minutes, NEOM commented
The city’s dimensions and design are said to reduce the infrastructure footprint and will “create never-before-seen efficiencies in city functions”. The city aims to create an ideal climate all year round, which will ensure residents can enjoy surrounding nature when walking around
The Line offers a new approach to urban design: Neom said the idea of layering city functions vertically, while giving residents the possibility of moving seamlessly in three dimensions (up, down or across) to access them is a concept referred to as Zero Gravity Urbanism
His Royal Highness noted, “We cannot ignore the livability and environmental crises facing our world’s cities, and NEOM is at the forefront of delivering new and imaginative solutions to address these issues. NEOM is leading a team of the brightest minds in architecture, engineering and construction to make the idea of building upwards a reality”
