A consultant who worked on the Saudi megaproject Neom says the heart of the project, called “The Line,” will be a resort rather than a functioning city.
Chris Hables Gray, a writer and consultant who researched the design aesthetics of science fiction films for The Line in 2021, told Business Insider that the futuristic city would be a “resort for 0.01% of the population.”
Although Saudi Arabia “can spend large sums of money, there is no chance of it becoming a real city,” he said.
Gray said Neom’s promotional videos for The Line were intended to be “seductive” and showed “astonishingly tantalizing visions of a future that will never be”.
A resort for “really rich people”
Neom officials say The Line will target both tourists and permanent residents.
According to a Bloomberg report earlier this year, the project is expected to accommodate 300,000 people by 2030. The previous target was 1.5 million residents, which represents a downgrade.
The Neom project also includes several luxury tourist destinations along the Gulf of Aqaba to compete with nearby Dubai.
“It was obviously always designed to be a resort for really rich people,” Gray said. “Cities serve profoundly important functions culturally, economically, spiritually and politically, and this planned city does not serve any of them.”
He added that The Line is located “in the middle of nowhere,” making it a good location for a resort, but not one that can be integrated into the local indigenous culture.
The Huwaitat tribe, who traditionally live in the areas earmarked for the megacity, were forcibly evicted from their villages to make way for “The Line”. One villager was reportedly killed for resisting the eviction and dozens were arrested.
The United Nations criticized this approach and called on the Saudi government to investigate the reports of torture.
Representatives of Neom did not respond to a request for comment from BI.
Science fiction aesthetics
The futuristic design of the line seems to be strongly influenced by science fiction.
According to officials, the city will consist of two 500-meter-high mirrored skyscrapers, spaced 200 meters apart, will house more robots than people, and will be powered entirely by renewable energy.
Gray said his role in the project was to research the aesthetics of science fiction films at the request of senior Saudi officials.
He said he was surprised by the high compensation for 100 hours of concept research. “The money was unusual for me. They have enough money to just tackle these problems.”
Gray is not the first to question the practicality of The Line.
Andreas Krieg, a golf expert at the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies at King’s College London, called the plans “completely absurd” and told BI that Neom’s centerpiece had “no real purpose.”
Others questioned whether potential residents would even want to live in the two mirrored skyscrapers.
Planners are concerned that The Line’s vertical city concept will not appeal to some potential residents because of the excessive amount of natural light that will likely reach the buildings’ lower floors, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year.
The city’s unusual linear structure also attracted attention. Although the concept of linear urban planning has existed since the 19th century, few people have tried it.
