NEOM - The Line
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Source: https://news.yahoo.com/saudi-arabia-announces-plans-100-204228319.html

Source: https://www.arabnews.com/node/2129296/saudi-arabia

Really interesting interview with Tarek Qaddumi, NEOM's Urban Planning Director.

The project is reinventing urbanism, seeking to remove the pollution, noise, and sprawl of city living in favor of an ultra-efficient utopia. In an exclusive interview with NEOM’s director of urban planning Tarek Qaddumi, designboom explores how the megacity will operate, and what life inside THE LINE will look like.

DB: And THE LINE will complete in eight years — by 2030?

TQ: We are looking at an aggressive schedule, and the first modules will be completed before that. However, the first substantial population living on the LINE will be in 2030.

DB: So the project will be able to grow over time.

TQ: Absolutely. The first substantial population we are looking at is about a million plus. But then the capacity of the LINE is nine million people. So, you can imagine it’s a city that’s going to grow organically. Nine million people is Greater London or New York City with its five boroughs. So, this is going to be an organic process that will take years.

This new approach reduces THE LINE’s physical footprint to 2 percent of that of a conventional city of a similar population. London currently sits at about 1600 km2 compared to 34 km2 of THE LINE for the same population of approximately 9 million. As the world’s population grows and as urban migration continues, we see THE LINE, radical as it may be, as a viable alternative to the gradual and systematic takeover of natural ecologies and landscapes.

Urban life within THE LINE is another driver for THE LINE’s 3-dimensional organization. Two direct derivatives of Zero Gravity Urbanism are Hyper-Proximity and Hyper-Mixed-use. Hyper Proximity is the phenomenon by which more people come closer together than ever before imaginable, promoting exceptional social interaction and cultural exchange. Manhattan, an example of a high-density vibrant city, achieves 25,000 people within a 5-minute walk. THE LINE reaches 80,000 population catchments while maintaining the same comfort and density.

Source: https://www.designboom.com/architecture/neom-line-saudi-arabia-vertical-city-interview-tarek-qaddumi-08-11-2022/

More images of saudi Arabias Linear Megacity

Design plan for the 500-meter tall parallel structures, The Line.








Source: https://www.dailysabah.com/gallery/what-is-the-line-a-sneak-peek-at-saudi-arabias-linear-megacity/images?gallery_image=101800

The Mirror Line, or The Linear City, was announced to be built by 2030. It will be equipped with housing, hotels, retail, commercial spaces and a stadium. The inward-facing building will look like a huge mirror among the desert and also contain vertical farms to provide citizens with food.

Here are some freshly posted photos to look and amaze at:




https://www.admiddleeast.com/architecture-interiors/architecture/mirror-line-neom-side-scraper-trillion-dollar-vertical-city-saudi-arabia

It looks like plans have changed from interconnected buildings along the line to building single massive buildings along the line instead. They will be the the world's largest buildings is this plan goes ahead.

Saudi Arabia is planning the world's largest buildings in a mostly unpopulated part of the country as part of an entirely new $500 billion development called Neom, according to people familiar with the matter. Neom, the brainchild of Saudi Crown Prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman, aims to build twin skyscrapers about 1,640 feet tall that stretch horizontally for dozens of miles, the people said.

The skyscrapers would house a mix of residential, retail and office space running from the Red Sea coast into the desert, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. The plan is a shift from the concept announced last year of building a string of developments linked by underground hyper-speed rail, into a long continuous structure, the people said.

"When people talk about The Line, they see a futuristic Hyperloop, Star Wars type of entity," said Ali Shihabi, a member of Neom's advisory board. "But when The Line was presented to the board, I saw a highly intelligent, well thought-out sustainable modern city that will accommodate from laborers to billionaires and that will be built in stages, so it will follow demand."

Source: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/jun/05/saudis-envision-largest-buildings-ever-for-500b/

A car-free modern city will indeed change the world.

NEOM's location at the doorstep of Israel, Jordan and Egypt is an advantage too. Much closer to Europe.

Come 5-7 years and we'll all forget about Dubai.

Some changes of designer and options for how "The Line" will work seem to be afoot.

Saudi Arabia adds Morphosis to project team for its NEOM smart city megaproject

The Line, as the car-free linear city that will form the backbone of Neom is known, could cost up to $200 billion to build, the prince said last year, though that was before the plan changed to include gigantic horizontal buildings. The buildings would be “different heights as you go,” adapting to the landscape, with their final size determined by engineering considerations and the terrain, Al-Nasr said. — Bloomberg

The OPEC nation has thus far been mum as to the new plan’s details but says it will be funded in part through an increase in surplus revenues overseen by the Public Investment Fund, which is managed by NEOM’s CEO Al-Nasr. It is yet unclear whether Bechtel, who previously signed on their servicesfor the then-estimated $500 billion venture’s light rail and utility systems, will remain on for the project’s updated version, wherein Morphosis and designer Thom Mayne will deliver two parallel 1,640-foot-tall structures said to stretch from the Red Sea into the desert ar lengths of up to half a mile.

Source: https://archinect.com/news/article/150313291/saudi-arabia-adds-morphosis-to-project-team-for-its-neom-smart-city-megaproject

THE LINE: Work begins on Saudi Arabia’s 170-km vehicle-free city

Saudi Arabia has started construction on a unique 170-kilometer (100-mile) pedestrian-friendly city designed in a perfectly straight line that will link the Red Sea coast with the mountains and upper valleys of the kingdom's northwest.

The city project, aptly named THE LINE, is designed in layers, with a nature-friendly, vehicle-free top layer for pedestrians only and two subterranean levels for infrastructure and ultra-fast transportation.

The linear metropolis’s layout will offer all of the residents’ daily needs within a five-minute walk, and the subterranean levels will connect four regions with a maximum 20-minute commute with the aim of developing the kingdom’s remote northwest Red Sea coast by creating a state-of-the-art tech hub.

In an interview with Bloomberg, NEOM CEO Nadhimi al-Nasr said the project is “a huge undertaking” in its beginning stages, with around 1% so-far complete.

Source:
https://www.dailysabah.com/business/economy/the-line-work-begins-on-saudi-arabias-170-km-vehicle-free-city