Saudi Arabia disclosed the concept of The Line on 25 July 2022, which is the Futuristic city within Neom out of three regions. In 2017 Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed-bin-Salman announced a yet-to-be-built megacity with a budget of $500 billion.
Far from ordinary cities, this city will be a vertically opening linear city with a height of 500m, 170m long and 200m wide. The town will contain mirrored walls, and within five minutes walk, 9 million residents will be able to access their daily needs easily. Also, people will be able to reach an end-to-end of the city within 20 minutes via high transportation speed.
The whole city will be running on 100% renewable energy. The town is built with the idea of no cars, no roads and no emissions within the area. Microclimatic spaces are established, allowing an optimal balance of shade, sunlight and ventilation to avoid any climatic problems; artificial intelligence will be constructive in powering automated services.
Crown Prince said the Line would throw light on alternative ways to live and take forward humanity’s challenges. The Line fosters livability and the environmental crisis facing our world’s cities. The Neom aims to provide new and resourceful solutions to address these issues.
Prince Mohammed-bin-Salman states that it is a civilization revolution that puts humans first. Artificial Intelligence will drive transportation, such as the metro, and this will be located underground; overground will be a Pedestrian layer supported by two underground layers service layer and a spine layer for transport.
These will connect the different communities, which Neom anticipates will house one million inhabitants and be stretched across 100 miles. According to Bin Salman, by 2050, one billion will have to redistribute due to increasing CO2 emissions and sea levels, 90% of people inhale the polluted air.