Saudi Arabia’s controversial mega-city project: The Line

In 2021, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman revealed the country's plans to build The Line, a smart linear city that will be constructed vertically, have no roads or cars and run purely on renewable energy. Now, the Saudi government has released image renders of what The Line could look like once it's done. The city was designed to only be 200 meters (656 feet) wide, but 500 meters (1,640 feet) tall and 170 kilometers (105 miles) long. It will house multiple communities encased in a glass facade running along the coast and will eventually be able to accommodate up to 9 million residents.

The Line's designers envision a city wherein facilities are just a five-minute walk away from people and where residents can organically bump into each other as they go about their daily errands. While it will have no roads and won't be able to accommodate cars, it will have a high-speed rail for end-to-end transit that will take 20 minutes. It will also rely on a natural ventilation system to make sure residents enjoy the ideal climate all year round.

The Line is part of Saudi's $500 billion Neom mega-city project being built in the country's Tabuk Province. It's a divisive initiative that's been beset with controversy from the time it started, because around 20,000 people will be forced to relocate by its construction.

The controversies surrounding Neom had compelled Riot Games to quickly go back on its decision to enter a sponsorship agreement with the mega-city project. Neom was supposed to be a main partner for Riot's LEC esports championship in Europe two years ago until backlash from fans caused the company to end the sponsorship deal a mere 24 hours later.

[fecundissimus]

This is how all these futuristic movies start..

[richsalazme]

I remember those movies that starts with a big company introducing such a city, that it's the future. Then we cut to our main character living at the crappy apartment, we hear noise of nearby neighbors. He goes out and show us a heavily populated, and cramped city, trash and neon signs everywhere. Then we see him look up to see the wall of buildings until he see the actual sky. He then see his best friend and talk about how he'd like to leave that place to see the world that is round and not linear like "the line" city. Later that day he bumped into a mysterious woman running away from something. Eventually they'll meet and talk about how the city and how bad the government is running it. They'll start an uprising, all of the people start fighting back, some of his friends die. In the end they defeat the security, and the people running the place. Then they go outside the Line..

You guys continue this story.. I'm done taking a dump.

[dominnno]

in the future when the line gets finished:
“Mom, what’s outside the walls?”
“Monsters, titans.”

[senju]

Looks like the coolest Prison I have ever seen.

[Michtify]

If this is what the future is like, it's looking pretty miserable

[spencermatthews]

The will be the coolest abandoned construction site in the world!

[NV_XE]

The camels are gonna be like : WTF is that?

[NouammAA]

This literally looks like a dystopian movie plot.

[amberpdavis]

“Minimal environmental impact” yeah except for where they completely bisect an ecosystem with no way for animals to go above or under, and creating basically a miles long sliding glass door for all the birds to beef it on

[SuperAlba]

It feels like an episode of Black mirror

[shintyty]

This line looks more like a luxurious prison to me

[censortube]

Looks absolutely miserable for someone like me that enjoys nature and freedom. I need to be more grateful for where I live.

[abby]

Why am I getting a feeling that we’re slowly moving towards a dystopian future where anything outside megacities is barren and unsuitable for life. Just like in Judge Dredd’s Mega city one

[sebastianharris]

I used to have dreams about a future like this. A weird very nice city, where everything is right there

[Robloxian_ChannelReal]

That is probably the most stupid idea i have ever heard like who would want to feel trapped in like a long hallway

[wethenorth]

If you voluntarily live here, you’re insane. This is a prison in the middle of a desert. They’re selling it as a utopia but it’s going to be a hell on earth. You’re in a desert, in the middle of nowhere in an authoritarian country…..what could go wrong.

[bmayaa]

I never thought they would start building the Death Star from the trenches.

[pavlara]

I like how the presentations haven’t gone past the conceptual phase yet the excavation has started. I think whoever told the Saudi prince this might be a bad idea will be part of the foundation.

[frolicfutile]

Cant wait to see how birds wil navigate a giant mirror 500m high 😂👀🐦

[Frostbyte]

This will end in either 2 ways (if it actually happens), an amazing eco-city that’s a beacon for technology, or a dystopian nightmare that you can never leave which is full of corruption and suffering and where the sunlight never reaches the bottom.