In the desert sands of Saudi Arabia's deep north-west, thousands of workers are building a futuristic city that the kingdom says will be like no other.
Out of the ancient sands will emerge a hi-tech urban centre called The Line: zero-carbon with flying drones for taxis, holographs for teachers and even a man-made moon.
Read more: Welcome to Saudi Arabia’s futuristic city where data is currency
In Saudi Arabia's NEOM, residents are paid for sharing their data - a model for other smart cities, but privacy is a concern
Saudi Arabia touts futuristic city where data is currency
NEOM vision can be model for smart cities that collect data
Privacy, surveillance concerns persist in kingdom
In the desert sands of Saudi Arabia's deep northwest, thousands of workers are building a futuristic city that the kingdom says will be like no other.
Out of the ancient sands will emerge a high-tech urban centre called The Line: zero-carbon with flying drones for taxis, holographs for teachers and even a man-made moon.
Read more: Saudi 'surveillance city': Would you sell your data to The Line?
The Line is part of Saudi's controversial Neom mega-city project.
In 2021, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman revealed the country's plans to build The Line, a smart linear city that will be constructed vertically, have no roads or cars and run purely on renewable energy. Now, the Saudi government has released image renders of what The Line could look like once it's done. The city was designed to only be 200 meters (656 feet) wide, but 500 meters (1,640 feet) tall and 170 kilometers (105 miles) long. It will house multiple communities encased in a glass facade running along the coast and will eventually be able to accommodate up to 9 million residents.
Read more: This is what Saudi Arabia's 100-mile long emission-free smart city could look like
Mirror-faced linear development would be 200m wide, 500m tall and home to 9 million people
Concept designs have been revealed of Saudi Arabia’s proposals for a linear smart city that would effectively be a 170km-long skyscraper.
Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman last year set out an initial vision for the project, named the Line, in Saudi Arabia’s north-west. However the project has been in development for several years.
Read more: Saudi Arabia shows off concept designs for 170km smart city
Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, has announced one of the greatest construction projects in history called Neom.
Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, has announced one of the greatest and most complex construction projects in history, which involves transforming a desert the size of Belgium into a high-tech city-region called Neom.
Read more: SA: Neom: 5 Points On $500 Billion Smart City Project Planned By Saudi Crown Prince