Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff. Lauren Bolga bam here. The Saudi Arabia is
Speaker 1: home to some of the world's most interesting and ambitious architecture,
Speaker 1: but the country's newest urban project may just top them all.
Speaker 1: The Government of Saudi Arabia unveiled plans in one for
Speaker 1: the city of Neom, including a megastructure called The Line.
Speaker 1: The Line is designed to be an entire city composed
Speaker 1: of two parallel skyscrapers stretching across the northwest part of
Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia near the Red Sea. Each building is planned
Speaker 1: to be a hundred and seventy kilometers long, just over
Speaker 1: a hundred miles and five hundred meters high. That's about
Speaker 1: six feet taller than most of the world's tallest skyscrapers.
Speaker 1: But both buildings together, along with an outdoor space in
Speaker 1: between them, will be just two hundred meters wide. That's
Speaker 1: about six hundred and fifty feet. If you think this
Speaker 1: sounds like the setting for some kind of futuristic dystopian novel,
Speaker 1: you're not wrong. The Line is being described as a
Speaker 1: vertical city outfitted with exterior mirrors big enough to house
Speaker 1: nine million people, along with everything they need, from parks
Speaker 1: and waterfalls to high speed rail and robot maids. There
Speaker 1: are even plans to include an artificial moon for residents
Speaker 1: to gaze upon. With its proposed width of only six
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty feet, the line plans to rely primarily
Speaker 1: on its height to encompass its residents in vertically layered homes, offices,
Speaker 1: public parks, and public schools laid out in neighborhoods so
Speaker 1: that all amenities are within a five minute walk for
Speaker 1: all residents. It's also proposing a host of modern trappings,
Speaker 1: including year round climate control of all indoor and outdoor spaces,
Speaker 1: and accessibility to parks and natural elements within a two
Speaker 1: minute walk. A plus that high speed rail is being
Speaker 1: planned to put everything in the one hundred mile long
Speaker 1: city within a twenty minute ride, and Saudi Arabian officials
Speaker 1: claim the line will otherwise be devoid of roads, cars,
Speaker 1: or emissions, and will be powered strictly by clean energy,
Speaker 1: although details for that haven't been released yet. When complete,
Speaker 1: the line will span thirteen square miles or thirty four
Speaker 1: square kilometers across the desert to become a literal oasis.
Speaker 1: Architectural renderings show the two buildings operating as one, incorporating
Speaker 1: a verdant space in the middle filled with water features
Speaker 1: and plants. Although a timeline was not part of the
Speaker 1: line's announcement, initial earthwork began in October one, and it's
Speaker 1: expected that residents will begin moving in by the year.
Speaker 1: This deadline was shared as part of a larger countrywide
Speaker 1: improvement plan dubbed Vision twenty that's intended to draw a
Speaker 1: hundred million annual visitors and keep Saudi Arabia in the
Speaker 1: renting against travel hotspots like its Gulf neighbors Dubai and
Speaker 1: Abu Dhabi. The line is just one part of the
Speaker 1: one trillion dollar Neon Project, an initiative announced in and
Speaker 1: focused on the northwest part of Saudi Arabia. Along with
Speaker 1: the line, there are plans to build a network of
Speaker 1: airports as well as the world's largest green energy plant.
Speaker 1: The area is intended to become so self sufficient that
Speaker 1: it's being referred to as a country within a country
Speaker 1: where residents might be called Namians rather than Saudia's. In
Speaker 1: a press release from July, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Speaker 1: Salman is quoted as saying Neon will be a place
Speaker 1: for all people from across the globe to make their
Speaker 1: mark on the world in creative and innovative ways. The
Speaker 1: Line is a futuristic and ambitious project. Critics of Saudi
Speaker 1: Arabia's vision initiatives say that the attempt to transition from
Speaker 1: a crude oil economy to one powered by tourism over
Speaker 1: books the country's most available resources, namely its competitive advantages
Speaker 1: in higher education and research. There are also concerns about
Speaker 1: the structures interrupting natural habitats and weather patterns. We'll have
Speaker 1: to see how the project actually develops. Today's episode is
Speaker 1: based on the article Meet the Line, Saudi Arabia's future
Speaker 1: hundred and six mile one building city on housetof Works
Speaker 1: dot com, written by laure L Dove. Brain Stuff is
Speaker 1: production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff
Speaker 1: works dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Before
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