NEOM: Made to Change

Have you heard anything about Saudi Arabia's new project? NEOM City? World's first vertical city? You probably saw the advertisements about this city on the perimeter walls of the pre-selecting tournaments fields for the 2022 World Cup.

So let's know much more about NEOM and The Line project in it.

NEOM is being called as what 'New Future might look like' by Saudi Arabia. Neom is a portmanteau of the Greek word neos, meaning "new," and mustaqbal, the Arabic word for "future." It is a futuristic mega-city 33 times the size of New York City.

NEOM is being built on the Red Sea in northwest Saudi Arabia. It can be imagined as a place where entrepreneurship and innovation would frame the course for this New Future. The city is being marketed as a new model for sustainable living, working, and prospering.

It seems to be a massive amount of more than 500 billion dollars being invested in this dream project of the Saudi Prince, and It has been planned such that all major cities across the world would be an 8-hour flight from NEOM.

The Line metropolis will be powered 100 percent by renewable energy, free from roads, cars, and emissions, and will contribute to preserving 95 percent of Neom’s land, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency. This city is being built using artificial intelligence and clean energy sources.

It will be only 200m wide and 500m above sea level but will span 170km in length with bullet trains and hyperloops which will provide end-to-end connectivity in 20 minutes.

The project is being built to accommodate nine million residents and will have a footprint of 34 sq km. Residents will have access to facilities in The Line within a five-minute walk, in addition to access to the high-speed rail too.

The Line’s design will vertically layer all the city’s offerings, including its homes, offices, hotels, and schools while giving those present within it the possibility to move seamlessly in three dimensions (up, down, or across) to access the different facilities in a concept referred to as Zero Gravity Urbanism. Different from constructing tall buildings, this concept instead layers public parks and pedestrian areas, schools, homes, and places for work. NEOM would build Digital Air which is free WiFi for all its residents too.

It will have an outer mirror fa?ade that will allow it to blend with its surroundings and will be created by a team of architects and engineers led by Neom. It hired three of the world's largest consultancy firms in 2017. These were McKinsey & Co, Boston Consulting, and Oliver Wyman.

“At The Line’s launch last year, they committed to a civilizational revolution that puts humans first based on a radical change in urban planning. The designs revealed for the city’s vertically layered communities will challenge the traditional flat, horizontal towns and create a model for nature preservation and enhanced human livability. 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 lauded for being inclusive of the following:

1- An economic engine for the world as many investments would reach the futuristic city?

2- It is based on the principles of environmental conservation

3- It would provide an open laboratory for young entrepreneurs

4- It is geographically rich as it includes mountains, coasts, and deserts

5- The state would have its own labor laws and a tax system that would be independent of the current Government of Saudi Arabia

6- NEOM would be attracting the best of emerging and established talent from the world, with an unprecedented commitment to industry education, innovation, and production activity, all in a uniquely collaborative environment

7- It promises the residents and the investors with a lifestyle and livability that would be better than the world

8- At night, NEOM would possibly be illuminated by a giant artificial moon

9- The Red Sea coastline is planned to be altered by the authorities. It would, as per the plan, have glow-in-the-dark sand added to its beaches

10- Blueprints obtained by the Wall Street Journal detail wild plans for artificial rain, robotic maids, and holographic teachers

11- Neom is supposed to draw on "cloud seeding" technology to make artificial clouds which will produce more rainfall than naturally possible in the desert

The first part of the project is nearing its completion as stated by the Saudi authorities with the airport and the resorts already being built at the NEOM bay. The Saudi Government would also need to hold investors summits in order to attract investments in this futuristic city. As of now, it seems a far-fetched plan and would take a lot of time and effort to make such unique architectures. Neom remains one of the most critical projects of Saudi Vision 2030,” said Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and Chairman of the Neom Board of Directors.

Apart from The Line, Neom’s other significant projects include Oxagon, its floating manufacturing and innovation city, and Trojena, its mountain tourism destination that will offer the outdoor skiing facilities. I will post the commercial video clip right after this article. Enjoy it.