Arguably the world’s largest architectural project to date and initiative under NEOM, one of the Kingdom’s massive giga projects that intends to build what is called a smart city or more accurately, numerous cities, resorts and developments in the Tabuk Province, The Line is an architectural and design project unlike anything anyone has seen before. A linear smart city under the NEOM project, it is a 170-kilometer long Saudi skyscraper in the middle of the desert and is moving forward with help from UK firm Atkins commissioned to realize it.
“In an increasingly populous, and more urbanised world where unsustainable practices provoke greenhouse gas emission growth and where densifying, radial-designed cities further undermine quality of life for the vast majority, NEOM’s urban planners and architects saw an opportunity that would transform city sustainability, livability and prosperity forever,” Giles Pendleton, Executive Director of The Line, told Gulf News.
While many of today’s cities continue to face a multitude of -problems resulting from traffic, pollution and expanding -suburban developments, The Line, through its sleek architecture and design and advanced technology aims to resolve -problems faced by modern day cities.
“Whereas many cities try to remedy these issues, they remain limited by legacy planning,” added Pendleton. “Through its pioneering vertical urbanism, NEOM, and The Line, have the opportunity to build a greenfield city that will not have such problems to start with. The Line will have no cars, run on 100% renewable energy, with no pollution.”
Moreover, as Pendleton explains, The Line will be the world’s first five-minute city, where the full array of people’s everyday needs are within a five-minute walkable distance delivering a -lifestyle of ease and convenience previously unimaginable. “This will mean that every day The Line’s inhabitants gain time for themselves,” he added. “Rather than sitting on a long commuter train for two hours or rushing to the other side of town for your child’s school, The Line’s master plan will embed maximum livability into its urban mixed-use fabric, giving back time to its inhabitants to allow them to have more cherished moments with their friends and family.”
The Line intends to reduce the infrastructure footprint and create never-before-seen efficiencies in city functions. Moreover, the ideal climate year-round of its location aims to ensure that its residents can enjoy surrounding nature when venturing out in the vicinity. Residents will also have access to a high-speed rail with an end-to-end transit of 20 minutes.
What is more is that the mission of The Line’s architecture and design is to merge with nature—an element that reflects its sustainable goals. Through its mirrored façade it will reflect the natural environment that surrounds it becoming one with nature. “The Line will be part of its environment and at one with nature, using only a fraction of the natural environment footprint when compared with conventional city designs,” explains Pendleton.
There is a need, he stresses, for a city that can accommodate nine million people, and this would take Saudi Arabia towards its 2050 population goal. “We need to do that efficiently, with the smallest possible footprint and the optimal livability for -residents,” adds Pendleton.
At the core of The Line’s cognitive city vision is its human-centric design that has never been done before. It priorities the personal everyday requirements of its inhabitants.
For instance, explains Pendleton, “it might be that you’ll be able to see that every morning at 8:15 am, there are a large amount of people that want the lift on the 50th floor to go to the 60th floor then you are able to make the lives of those people easier by ensuring the elevator is waiting there for them—rather than a predetermined system that means them having to press a button and wait for it to arrive.”
Human-centric design, the highest tech imaginable, an entirely sustainable design and an architecture that merges with the local natural environment—The Line appears riveting and ground-breaking on every level and while still causing the world to raise its eyebrows—it for once is desiring to put humans and nature first through a structure that is as technological sound and advanced imaginable. When it is achieved, this will be progress.
