Announced in 2021, The Line is a linear smart city currently under construction in Saudi Arabia, as part of the Vision 2030 initiative. In this blog post, we’re taking a deep dive into everything you need to know about The Line, including the key proposed selling points, sustainability commitments, and the controversies associated with the city.
What is The Line?
The Line is an innovative linear smart city currently under construction in NEOM, Saudi Arabia. The 106-mile city is designed as a system of two parallel skyscrapers and, most notably, is designed to have no cars, streets, or carbon emissions.
NEOM’s developers claim The Line is “a revolution in civilization”, pitching The Line with four key benefits: unparalleled access to nature, clean air for everyone, more time to spend with loved ones, and a perfect climate, all-year-round.
What will life look like for inhabitants of The Line?
The Line will run on 100% renewable energy with an intense focus on the health and wellbeing of its inhabitants, accommodating 9 million people on a footprint of just 34 square kilometres.
According to the developers, The Line will contain everything its inhabitants need, from shops and employment to healthcare and education. Residents will be able to access all daily essentials within a five-minute walk, in addition to a high-speed rail taking inhabitants end-to-end in 20 minutes.
Nature will be integrated throughout The Line, with a diversity of open spaces throughout across multiple levels. The project also aims to provide equitable access to views of the surrounding natural landscape, including the mountains and sky, all while avoiding urban sprawl – made possible by the reduced infrastructure footprint.
Is this the future of urban living?
Described by NEOM as “the future of urban living”, The Line stretches 170 kilometres from the mountains of NEOM all the way to the Red Sea. Towering 500 metres above sea level, this innovative city will be only 200 metres wide – a land-saving design that is redefining how we think about urban development and generating intense conversations about what the cities of the future will look like.
Why is The Line controversial?
Innovative projects are never without controversy, and The Line is attempting this design on a scale never seen before in human history. The Line’s controversies fall into three categories: sustainability, liveability, and human rights.
First, we’ll cover the issue of liveability – namely, transportation. City planning experts have criticised the linear approach of The Line, claiming a city built in a circle would allow greater transport flexibility. Concerns have been raised in particular about the proposed high-speed rail. While this transport system should allow residents to travel end-to-end in twenty minutes, a malfunction could be catastrophic for the city – cutting off millions of people.
The Line has also been criticised for human rights issues associated with the scale of land required for construction. In particular, the eviction of the Huwaitat tribe is highly controversial with an estimated 20,000 tribe members being relocated to accommodate the planned development.
Additionally, The Line is facing criticism for its claims of sustainability. While The Line aims to be powered by 100% renewable energy, experts suggest that the pollution from construction will vastly overshadow any environmental benefits of the project.
One thing is clear: the world will be watching Saudi Arabia closely to see how The Line’s construction progresses and the controversies surrounding it will continue to be fiercely debated.
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