The Line is a Saudi project to build a city, consisting of a desert building that will stretch 106 miles (170km) and eventually house nine million people.
This futuristic city, part of the Neom project, will be built in the northwest of the Gulf country, close to the Red Sea, according to an announcement by the kingdom's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Originally scheduled for completion in 2025, the Crown Prince insists the ambitious project is on track. He also said that the goal is to make Saudi Arabia an economic powerhouse by attracting more citizens to the country. That said, Saudi officials say they have no plans to lift the kingdom's ban on alcohol, even in this city.
The city's compact design will ensure that residents can reach everything they need – homes, schools and workplaces – within five minutes on foot. A network of walkways at different levels will connect the buildings. The city will be without roads or cars. An express train will go from one end to the other in 20 minutes and the line will run exclusively on renewable energy, with no CO₂ emissions. Open urban spaces and the incorporation of nature will ensure air quality.
The Crown Prince spoke of a radical change in urban planning: layered vertical communities that challenge the traditional horizontal and flat big cities, as well as preserving nature, improving the quality of life and creating new ways of living. However, according to confidential documents leaked to the Wall Street Journal , the project staff are concerned about whether people really want to live so close. They also fear that the size of the structure could alter the flow of groundwater in the desert and affect the movement of birds and animals.
Shade is also a challenge to build. The lack of sunlight inside the 500-metre-high building could prove harmful to health. CNN writes that while some critics doubt it's even technologically feasible, others have described The Line as "dystopian." The idea is so big, outlandish and complicated that the project's own architects and economists are reportedly not sure it will become a reality, he writes The Guardian .
Human rights groups are also critical of the Neom project, claiming that local people in the northwest are being displaced through violence and threats. Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) says 20.000 Huwaitat tribe members have been displaced without adequate compensation. Saudi Arabia has long been criticized for human rights abuses. The effort to forcibly displace the indigenous population violates all norms and rules of international human rights law, says DAWN editor Sarah Leah Whitson.
Furthermore, employers still control the movement and legal status of migrants in the country through the kafala system, which has been described as modern slavery. According to HRW , it is common for passports to be confiscated and salaries not to be paid. Guest workers who leave their employers without permission can be jailed and deported.
Ahead of the climate conference COP26 last fall, bin Salman launched a green initiative for the desert nation, with the goal of zero emissions by 2060. Cambridge College researcher Joanna Depledge, an expert on climate negotiations, believes the initiative is not holding up scrutiny. The Neom project, which includes the "The Line" urban plan, was born from the idea of making Saudi Arabia less dependent on oil. However, Saudi Arabia is ramping up its oil production; according to Bloomberg , the energy minister said the country will pump oil to the last drop.
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