Saudi Arabia begins construction of 'straight city'

The future city in the desert costs $100 billion to build, doesn't use cars, and runs 100% on clean energy.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia first announced plans to build "The Line" , a series of urban areas stretching 170km along a central axis in January 2021. Now, bulldozers have begun transporting the soil and tunneling through the mountains to build the three floors of the Straight City, which includes an aboveground area for pedestrians, along with two underground levels for vehicular traffic. and infrastructure. According to Nadhmi Al-Nasr, director of project management, this is a huge undertaking.

The new city is located along a straight axis with a length of 170km. (Photo: Dezeen)

Instead of building from one starting point and expanding around, the project developers are considering starting from two points and building towards the center area. Stretching from the mountains of northwestern Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea, the residential clusters of the Straight City can accommodate a total of one million people, connected by a variety of superfast routes and automated mobility solutions. Schools, restaurants, shops and other locations are all within a 5-minute walk, and no journey takes longer than 20 minutes.

Thanks to its straight shape and underground infrastructure, the city's design helps preserve 95% of the natural landscape. Residents can move to the city as early as 2024.

Saudi Arabia invests $100-200 billion in Straight City. It is expected that the project will create 380,000 new jobs and help Saudi Arabia's DGP increase by about $48 million by 2030. Straight city is the first project located in Neom, a $500 million autonomous city covered by the city. 25.900km ² land in Tabuk province of Saudi Arabia, near the border with Jordan and Egypt. Neom is a compound word of neos (new) in Greek and mustaqbal (future) in Arabic. This is an ambitious plan to help Saudi Arabia end its dependence on oil, turning the country into a technology hub like Silicon Valley.

The city will use flying taxis, an amusement park with many dinosaur robots and the highest number of Michelin-starred restaurants in the world. The landscape of the area will be transformed by the application of a rain machine. Neom will also feature the world's largest coral garden, glowing sand and a giant artificial moon that lights up at night. Described as the world's largest zero-carbon system, the 16-zone megacity will use wind farms, solar energy and cutting-edge technology that converts water into oxygen and hydrogen as fuel.