Saudi Prince Mohammed unveils mirrored skyscraper eco-city
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - A futuristic Saudi megacity is to feature two skyscrapers extending across a swathe of desert and mountain terrain, according to the latest disclosures on the project by the kingdom’s de facto ruler.
The parallel structures of mirror-encased skyscrapers extending over 170km, known collectively as The Line, form the heart of the Red Sea megacity NEOM, a plank of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s bid to diversify the Gulf state’s oil-dependent economy.
First announced in 2017, NEOM has consistently raised eyebrows for proposed flourishes like flying taxis and robot maids, even as architects and economists have questioned its feasibility.
In a presentation on Monday, Prince Mohammed sketched out an even more ambitious vision, describing a car-free utopia that would become the planet’s most liveable city ‘by far’.
Analysts noted, though, that plans for NEOM have changed course over the years, fuelling doubts about whether The Line will ever become reality.
NEOM was once touted as a regional ‘Silicon Valley’, a biotech and digital hub spread over 26,500sqkm.
Now it’s a vehicle for reimagining urban life on a footprint of just 34sqkm, and addressing what Prince Mohammed describes as ‘liveability and environmental crises’.
“The concept has morphed so much from its early conception that it’s sometimes hard to determine its direction: scaling down, scaling up, or making an aggressive turn sideways,” said Robert Mogielnicki of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.
Population boom
Officials had earlier said NEOM’s population would top one million, but Prince Mohammed said the number would actually hit 1.2mn by 2030 before climbing to nine million by 2045.
The eye-popping total is part of a hoped-for nationwide population boom that Prince Mohammed said would be necessary to make Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, an economic powerhouse.
The goal for 2030 is to have 50mn people - half Saudis and half foreigners - living in the kingdom, up from roughly 34mn today. By 2040 the target is 100mn people, he said.
“That’s the main purpose of building NEOM, to raise the capacity of Saudi Arabia, get more citizens and more people in Saudi Arabia. And since we are doing it from nothing, why should we copy normal cities?”
The site will be powered by 100 per cent renewable energy and feature ‘a year-round temperate micro-climate with natural ventilation’, a promotional video released on Monday said.
Past environmental pledges by the kingdom, such as a vow to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2060, have sparked scepticism from environmentalists. NEOM is well-positioned to harness solar and wind energy, and plans are also afoot for the city to host the world’s largest green hydrogen plant, said Torbjorn Soltvedt of risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.
“But the feasibility of NEOM as a whole is still unclear given the unprecedented scale and cost of the project,” he said.
At just 200m wide, The Line is intended to be Saudi Arabia’s answer to unchecked and wasteful urban sprawl, layering homes, schools and parks on top of each other in what planners term ‘Zero Gravity Urbanism’.
The main purpose of building NEOM is to raise the capacity of Saudi Arabia, get more people in Saudi Arabia. Since we are doing it from nothing, why should we copy normal cities?
ROBERT MOGIELNICKI