Hasta La Ideas

A lot of sci-fi movies set in the future have all these amazing looking skyscrapers and modern cities that we think are still years into the future and may not even happen in our lifetime. But the future may not be as far off as we think, especially if these plans for a linear city in Saudi Arabia will push through, then we’re just a step away from cities like that we see in the movies. Well, we still won’t have flying cars probably, but that may also be just a few years away.

Designer: Morphosis

The Line is a megastructure that will be built as part of the Neom development in the Tabuk province in Saudi Arabia, near the Red Sea and across the Gulf of Aqaba. Neom will be a tourist destination and city with smart city technologies and sustainable structures and The Line will be part of this development. It is a 500-meter tall and 200-meter wide linear city that will occupy 170 kilometers across the planned city. When finished, it will be able to house nine million people and will be the 12th highest structure in the world and most likely the longest.

This will be a vertically layered community with mirrored facades, having two wall-like structures and an open space in between them. The aim of such a structure is to give city dwellers an alternative way to live than the usual urban structures that we currently see. There will be residential, retail, leisure, and educational sections in The Line, as well as parks and other green spaces in order to make it more connected to nature. They call this arrangement as Zero Gravity Urbanism.

The outer mirror facade will make it blend with nature while the interior facade will be created for “extraordinary experiences and magical moments”. They are still committed to creating a small carbon footprint for this development although how that will happen is still not clear. The Line will also have a transport system for the entire megastructure and can connect both ends within just 20 minutes. Again, how they will be able to create this sustainably will probably be tricky.

The Saudi Arabian government has said that the entire city will be powered by sustainable energy and will be designed to have a more sustainable lifestyle compared to most traditional cities. The entire Neom development is also part of the country’s drive to be less reliant on oil by diversifying its economy.

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