Saudi Arabia is taking a bold step to commence the building of an unconventional project called NEOM in the northwestern part of the country.
The $500 billion development aims to become a smart city in the Tabuk desert where humans and robots live side by side.
The city is designed to be powered entirely by renewable energy, with no cars and no emissions.
Its planners describe it as a model for future living, with ultra-modern, fully digital facilities run by artificial intelligence.
One of NEOM’s main features is “The Line,” a planned linear city stretching 170 kilometres.
Under this project, homes, workplaces, and services will all be within walking distance, connected by high-speed transport and advanced digital systems.
The goal is to create a city where everything is efficient, seamless, and sustainable.
The Saudi government has identified nine sectors to drive development, including energy, biotechnology, water, digital services, and food.
Robots will help run many of these systems.
The city is also being designed to welcome machines as residents, continuing a path that began when Saudi Arabia granted citizenship to the robot Sophia in 2017.
But while engineers and designers promote NEOM as a world-changing idea, experts in mental health are raising concerns.
Psychologists are warning that highly controlled environments can limit human well-being and stop elements like variety, surprise, and opportunities that exist among human beings.
According to them, the non-existence of a natural transition between places, people might make people lose their sense of time or feel confined.
There are also concerns about climate change that may be triggered by the project. Experts believe the projects might end up rewriting weather patterns in one of the world’s most delicate regions.
Saudi officials say NEOM will be a more open and global space than the rest of the country but the kingdom’s conservative laws, especially on personal freedoms, continue to raise questions.
Experts argue that a city built for the future must also respect human rights and individuality, not just offer high-tech convenience.
NEOM remains under construction, with full completion expected in the coming decades.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Wonder Ami Hagan
Quelle/Source: Global South World, 13.06.2025
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