Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced the launch of the “The Line” development project in NEOM, a futuristic cross-border city in the Tabuk Province of northwestern Saudi Arabia.

The Line will be self-sufficient, powered exclusively by renewable energy.  Built in a straight line, the project will also feature interconnected, AI-powered cognitive communities spanning 170 km in an environment free from cars, noise, pollution or congestion.

The project offers solutions to the challenges of urbanization that hinder the progress of humanity, such as dilapidated infrastructure, environmental pollution, and urban sprawl.

“Throughout the ages, cities were built in order to protect people in narrow spaces, and after the Industrial Revolution, cities were built to place the machine, the car and the factory before mankind. The cities that claim to be the best in the world, in which people spend years of their life in order to move, and this period will double in 2050, and one billion people will be displaced due to high carbon emissions and rising sea levels.”

Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Crown Prince

The Crown Prince asked a few thought-provoking questions about the state of the human race. Why do we accept that we sacrifice nature for the sake of development? And why do 7 million people die annually due to pollution? Why do we lose a million people annually due to traffic accidents? Why do we accept that years of a person’s life are wasted on commuting?

Bin Salman stressed on the urgency of renewing the concept of urbanization and joining the race to future cities. “Today, as the Chairman of NEOM, I present to you “The Line” a megacity with a length of 170 km that preserves 95% of the nature in NEOM lands, zero cars, zero streets, and zero carbon emissions,” he said.

The project will create 380,000 jobs and contribute $48 billion to the kingdom’s GDP by 2030.

The project seeks to develop communities, bringing the human being back to the focal point. In efforts to enhance the quality of life, the municipality will give access to all basic service facilities including medical centers, schools, entertainment facilities, with green spaces within a 5-minute walking distance from all residential and business areas.

The longest journey in the city is estimated not take more than 20 minutes, providing a healthy balance between a business environment that incubates innovation and an exceptional quality of life for residents.

The Line will be managed by artificial intelligence techniques to facilitate people’s daily life, helping them to anticipate dangers and problems and quickly react to them, thus saving residents and companies’ time.

The NEOM project is considered one of the mega projects within the diversified investment portfolio of the Saudi Public Investment Fund.