THE LINE! A revolution in urban living. The LINE 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. Saudi Arabia’s official estimate for the project is $500 billion, but recent reports have claimed that funding for the futuristic megacity could skyrocket to more than $1.5 trillion. According to the Journal’s report, executives working on Neom have dismissed the $500 billion figure as unrealistically low.
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. 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.
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. According to a 2024 Bloomberg report, this was later scaled down to a population of 300,000, housed in 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi) by 2030. Saudi officials denied this claim and stated that the project was continuing as planned.
The Line is eventually planned to be 170 kilometres (110 miles) long. 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). 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). The Line’s design consists of two mirrored buildings with an outdoor space inbetween, having a total width of 200 metres (660 ft) and a height of 500 metres (1,600 ft). This would make it the third 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. It will consist of three layers, one on the surface for pedestrians, one underground for infrastructure, and another underground for transportation. Artificial intelligence will monitor the city and use predictive and data models to find ways to improve daily life for its citizens, with residents being paid for submitting data to The Line.
The estimated building cost is US$100–200 billion (400–700 billion SAR), with some estimates as high as $1 trillion. It is claimed by the Saudi government that it will create 460,000 jobs, spur economic diversification, and contribute 180 billion SAR (US$48 billion) to domestic GDP by 2030. According to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2022, the first phase project is expected to cost SAR 1.2 trillion (USD 320 billion), and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund (PIF) would provide half of the sum.
On 5 April 2024, Bloomberg News reported that the project had been scaled back as a result of 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 contain fewer than 300,000 residents, a reduction of more than 98%.
Watch the LINE video: https://www.neom.com/en-us/regions/theline
Sources: Bloomberg News, KSA News, QGN, GT, BCC, CNN, BBC Business News, NEOM News, Saudi News, Global Business News, Reuters.