THE LINE

The Line is a 170-kilometer linear city under construction in NEOM, Saudi Arabia¹. This ‘futuristic’, ‘human-centric’ megacity aims to revolutionize urban living by eliminating cars, streets, and carbon emissions, focusing instead on sustainable and pedestrian-friendly designs². Launched in 2021 by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, The Line is a key component of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 as a pioneering development in urban sustainability and a step towards a carbon-neutral future^{3 i} .

The city is designed to stretch from the Red Sea to approximately the city of Tabuk⁴. Its structure comprises two mirrored buildings with a 200-meter width and 500-meter height, interspersed with open spaces, making nature accessible to residents within a 4 min walk⁵. They are divided into 135 interconnected modules, each 800 meters long and designed to house up to 80,000 people in a mixed-use environment⁶, ensuring 2 min uninterrupted access to nature and 5 min walk to all amenities⁷.

The city will feature three layers: one on the surface for pedestrians, one underground for infrastructure, and another for transportation⁸. A high-speed rail connects all modules and will traverse the city with an end-to-end transit of 20 minutes⁹. Artificial intelligence will monitor the city to improve daily life, with residents contributing data to the system¹⁰.

The Line is designed to house around nine million residents on a footprint of 34 square kilometers, making it significantly denser than the most densely populated cities currently across the world^{11 ii}. In turn, this allows the conservation of 95% of NEOM’s land as a natural reserve, in line with Saudi Arabia’s sustainability goals¹². A notable aspect of the project is the marina, which is set to host the world’s largest cruise ships¹³.

Notably, the city will operate 100% on renewable energy, including its industries, exemplifying the commitment to zero-carbon¹⁴. According to the Saudi government, the project will create 460,000 jobs, contribute $48 billion to the GDP, and enhance economic diversification¹⁵.

The project was announced by NEOM, a wholly-owned company by the Public Investment Fund, in January 2021¹⁶. According to architectural magazine dezeen, The Line is designed by multiple architecture studios including Morphosis and Cook Haffner Architecture Platform ¹⁷. Keller is among nine contractors engaged for The Line’s foundations, alongside companies such as Al-Osais, Bachy Soletanche, Bauer, Huta, NSCC, PowerChina, Saudi Baytur, and Trevi¹⁸. UK-based Atkins and two US firms, Jacobs and Parsons – are working with Neom as delivery partners¹⁹.

Excavation work had started along the entire length of the project by October 2022²⁰. The first modules of The Line will also be activated in 2026 ²¹, and by 2030, approximately one million people are expected to be residents in the project. The number is expected to rise to nine million by 2045²².