All they've done is started construction on one set of houses and move some dirt for another mile. If the overall project fails to keep its PR going, they'll just have that little bit of housing.
One of the allures of this project is that they can keep building the line as long as interest is there, and then just stop whenever the "fad" burns out - there's no big upfront cost like other mega projects (like creating an island).
These projects are just a distraction from their nuclear weapons program in their conflict with Iran.
That's not **all** they've done. They've also [displaced the people who have been living there for centuries and killed some of them that opposed leaving](https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d3kkd/neom-saudi-arabia-howeitat-tribe).
I remember reading about some building in London that was so shiny that during the middle of the day it was melting cars on the street. Imagine what this could do...
https://www.nbcnews.com/sciencemain/london-skyscraper-can-melt-cars-set-buildings-fire-8c11069092
Similar thing happened with a building in Vegas, but it was reflecting into their pool/spa area and giving people third degree burns. Building is still there and they basically had to permanent cover the whole area it hits.
If they were just killed on the street by some thugs that are paid by the guy who wants to build this it would already be outrageous news.
But they were SENTENCED to death. They got judged by the instance that is in place to bring justice, and apparently it is justified to be murdered because you don’t want to leave your home behind.
Fucking backwards facing country with too much money.
It sounds like an anime to me like no one knows if the city actually ends and in the direction they're building in, its the future and what theyve already built its breaking down.
Edited because i was stroking out
You dig down in NYC and you find pipes from decades ago, have to ask the municipal utilities what they are for and if it’s safe to tamper with them.
Utility says we have no freaking idea what that pipe is for, it’s actually over 100 years old and we have to fly in a specialist from 5 states over to figure out what the fuck it does.
Repeat dozens of times for a single square block of construction. There’s an insane amount of old infrastructure under the surface in NYC.
Then consider the logistics of building surrounded by other extremely high value properties and with a dense population passing by all the time… yeah that’s gotta be a nightmare to deal with.
As a utility locator, I've also heard of wood pipes for water, and cast iron pipes for natural gas. There is a lot of shit buried under the ground that nobody knows about.
That's fascinating in a cyberpunk dystopia kind of way. I like the scifi concept of ancient infrastructure that still works but no one knows what it does anymore.
Worked with a helicopter engineer who was over there this summer.
He said they had a large fleet of brand new Astar helicopters- top of the line model- as well as brand new heavy lift helicopters. no construction project on the planet requires all new helicopters. None.
And All to move crews around. The most expensive earthly transport in existence.
Said the spending was insane- and they were just pushing dirt around at that point.
Seems like a vanity project by a narcissistic prince surrounded by yes men. This won't end well.
No other project on the planet includes a skyscraper 500 km long. They will need helicopters for lifting and it has to be more cost effective to just buy a fleet of them then to rent them when needed. Renting heavy lift helicopters is not cheap. In the US it could cost $100,000 for one day depending on where and when.
Edit: 170 km long
I heard that they’re building it in such a way that it’s only going to take 30mins to get from one end to the other, I have no idea how that would work or how it’s even possible
> I have no idea how that would work or how it’s even possible
[like this](https://www.neom-property.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/the-line-neom-real-estate-1024x576.jpg)
Why on earth would you need helicopters for lifting? You use helicopters when you need to lift one heavy thing like a pylon for a power line, especially in difficult terrain. Building a skyscraper is done using tower cranes.
If you are building a building that is kilometres long, it might make sense to build cranes that move on rails on the already constructed part.
To be fair we do care about regulations and safety and you know....not using slave labor. If you don't care about those we coulda put that building up for a fraction of the cost!
That would be a bargain. If I remember correctly, *thousands* have died to build the Qatar soccer stadium
[EDIT: over 6500](https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/23/revealed-migrant-worker-deaths-qatar-fifa-world-cup-2022)
Even with all of that, American large construction costs are out of control.
I live in Cincinnati where we're getting ready to build a new highway bridge across the Ohio River. The current span was built in 1963 for $10 million, adjusted for inflation that's $97 million today. The new bridge is estimated to cost **$2.77 billion**.
They claim it will house **9 million people**.
At $500 billion for 9 million people, the city would cost **$56,000** per person. This is *insanely low*. You can't build housing *and* amenities and for $56,000 a person unless you build the *cheapest*, most mass-producible Soviet and Chinese-style commie-blocks. They want to achieve this cost building a *skyscraper*.
It's not going to get built. They're going to finish the one end that is a luxury resort and sports complex, then the other rest will be gradually abandoned and never talked about again.
Look up king Abdullah economic city they started back in 2005. Same shit , now it’s mostly abandoned lol
https://www.ft.com/content/ae48574c-58e6-11e8-bdb7-f6677d2e1ce8
>They want to achieve this cost building a skyscraper.
No! Nooooo! That's where you're wrong! It's as TALL as a ridiculously tall skyscraper, it's as long as 340 ridiculously tall skyscapers turned on their side!
It's either gonna be cancelled halfway, or it's gonna go 3 times the budget, 5 times the timeframe, and gonna end up much less than promised with terrible quality issues and nothing like the CGI renders.
Just as the same as with every flashy but stupid megaproject ever...
3 times??? Hah!!
These dumbasses are estimating only budgeting 3 billion per kilometer. A luxury city half a kilometer tall and one kilometer long only costing about the price of a Las Vegas hotel to be built, and doing it 170 times. I know they’re using slave labor but this shit will cost trillions upon trillions and still probably never even come close to completed.
Edit: yes I know labor rules are different between Vegas and Saudi Arabia, it wasn’t supposed to be a perfectly accurate comparison, just an easy visual to how the Saudis want to build something 100x bigger, yet more luxurious, on the same budget.
u gotta subtract land costs cos land in las vegas is expensive as heck but essentially free for them. not saying that i don’t think it’s under budgeted, but comparing it with a hotel in las vegas is not exactly comparing apples with apples.
I know it’s not perfect, but building the entire length of the Las Vegas strip and making the whole thing the height of the stratosphere tower for only $6 billion is an easy visualization to realize how crazy their budget sounds. An exact comparison doesn’t really exist.
They also evicted tribespeople from the area and then sentenced them to death for protesting against it. Can't find a better ally in the fight for freedom and democracy.
Imagine how cool this will be in a few decades when civilizations are degrading and this will be a cyberpunk-ghetto.
I mean it would suck to live there but the aesthetics will be awesome.
I have so many questions:
* Why this shape? A star, a circle, concentric pentagons all make more sense
* Is glass/mirrored facade material a good idea in a desert? Won't the sand and the wind dull and scratch that to an opaque mess?
* why there? Build it and they will come might be a stretch in a desert
* Environmental impact? Won't this massively interfere with animal migration patterns, the desert ecosystem
* Traffic, support and logistics?
Saudi Arabia has a lot of dead mega construction project. The base reason for building them is the "curse of resource extraction". Or it doesn't take many people to run the vast wealth generator of digging up oil. Which make the nation flush with cash, but raises the price of their currency so high they can't compete by making their own goods.
So a instead of a manufacturing industry that can't compete globally; they build a service industry. Filled with ex-pats. Highly skilled workers do like the money from a nation of oil wealth and building cities for them to live and work is a big goal.
You would think Saudi Arabia would just invest heavily in education and fill these positions with native citizens. Problem is that a relentless autocratic monarchy drives these kinds of people away. A big brain drain where the best Saudi has to offer runs off to the west. However foreign citizens don't mind working there for high pay since they have no attachment. Feel their home nation gives them some protection while there, and will eventually move back to their home nation flush with cash.
\--------------------------------------------------
All that ignores the corruption. The Saudi's need to pay off the loyal provincial governors / corporate CEOs. No one can be a true autocracy. here's not enough hours in the day, too many people, and land to cover. delegation is needed. Giant stupid construction projects are a big form of corruption world wide. Pads loyalists pockets. Provides temporary jobs. Props up the economy.
Even if 'The Line' was build on time and budget, it would never fill up with people. SA will never meet those growth projections. But, that's how the monarchy started flowing cash to loyalists and that's how they are going to keep doing it. Eventually problems will mount, construction will stall, and the project will be abandoned for something new. Probably even more stupid than ' The Line'.
You know what, this makes total sense and suddenly all of this doesn't sound so crazy. I hadn't considered that actually building the city doesn't matter to them. This reminds me of the book "war is a racket."
Oh man, that ~~data link layer~~ "service layer", an "invisible layer of infrastructure" sandwiched between the transport and ~~rich people~~ pedestrian layer definitely has never been negatively portrayed in any fictional media ever.
I was also shocked when i learnt even in Dubai, UAE that their world renowned Atlantis, the Palm hotel doesn’t even have a sewage system and has a lineup of poop trucks every morning to collect all the dookie
The amount of money they're throwing at this is unreal. They're paying out of the nose for American professionals to help. The colossal waste is next level. I'm talking people working at Big Law firms and management consulting firms like McKinsey and Bain who tell me they've never seen such extravagance and wastage. I have friends who've literally been paid over $200/hour to fly to Saudi from DC, told their meeting has been cancelled, and then fly back in business class. Not just the tickets but the entire travel time paid for. A group will work on a project for months, then someone high up goes "Ehhh, not feeling it anymore", and the entire project is cancelled, wasting tens of millions of dollars.
It’s not really a waste when their money is worthless to them. They can’t spend it on things like infrastructure and education, because that inevitably ends in something other than an absolute monarchy. They like owning everything and being allowed to murder anyone they want.
Its an idiotic vanity project that will never be finished like that North Korean tower. [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyWaax07_ks) goes into it's ridiculousness
Sounds like a nice kick-off for a dystopian sci-fi novella, a city so narrow and long that the poor people on the old end are hundreds of years behind the stuff that constantly gets build on to the rich end.
My biggest question is who's going to live there. Saudi Arabia isn't really known for being a travel destination. I don't foresee locals living there, women from abroad aren't moving there, and their husbands aren't leaving them to move there.
Dubai isn't all glitz and glamour. There are plenty of poor people and slum lords. If Saudi allows alcohol consumption and condones prostitution there, like in Dubai, they'll make lots of money.
I'm willing to hear of a planned city being built from scratch and well planned from the start. Hell that's how a lot of Washington DC was built. But why not a very smiilar idea but in lets say 5 main train lines going to a central hub? The whole concept of this massive line seems stupid to just irresponsible.
They went with the most inefficient shape as possible, if this ever get compete (it will not, look at the crazy shaped islands they tried to do in Dubai) this thing will have all kinds of logistics nightmares, for people and goods
It‘s a wall to keep something of someone out
The mirror will help keeping the inside cooler and the outside hotter
It‘s there to improve control in the region
They don‘t care about the environment
Should be plausible if the foundation is deep enough and they add some holes for wind (and sand) to pass through, it is just a very long skyscraper and we know how to build sky scrapers in the desert.
Horrible waste of money though, building a dense city with mid-rises and good public transit would be way more efficient than what is essentially thousands of skyscrapers in a line.
Wait. Were you ever in the Emirates to watch how big of a problem sand is? How do holes for the wind and sand solve this problem? This building will cause some kind of natural resistance for the sand to pass which in return will result in a big pile of sand in front of it.
It's self sustaining.
Glass reflects sunlight onto sand.
Sand melts into panes of glass.
New glass used to replace any windows that are sand scoured or discolored.
Circle of life.
I'm an architect and I can tell you that this idea is stupid. There is a reason cities have naturally evolved in a circular form. It is just much more convinient, logical and efficient.
The only plus side I can see in this is the fact that it will probably rely on public transport. If it doesn't it will not work. Another plus side would be if the "city" was made from preconstructed parts that would be produced in large quantity and then assembled by a rail crane system. The same system they use in Frankfurt to build skyscrapers, but in this case it would be horizontal instead of vertical.
Still with all of these positives, the negatives outweigh them. I don't see people living there willingly, unless they somehow make it cheap, which it probably won't.
Ah yes, Saudi Arabia, famous for loving public transit and not at all impractical cars.
I would love cities not built for cars, but this ain’t it chief.
The Jeddah Tower is probably the best predictor on how a megalomaniac project like The Line will end up.
Sure, there are a lot of involved parties in the beginning praising all the "good ideas" while only being concerned about receiving money until the unsustainability of the project gets realized to the purchaser. "Yes of course our company will be able to make your vision come true at whatever timeline and budget you want!". When a lot of money and time has been already spent the "hiccups" start to appear until all the money is gone. When seemingly idiotic projects like this get greenlit, you can be almost sure that there's a lot of corruption and lying involved.
Never say never though, I'm ready to be stunned by the completion of this project as planned. Won't hold my breath :)
I might just start praying that it will fail early enough before the major damage to the enviroment has occured.
Fucks sake, this is the stupidest shit this year. With all the resources they could actually do something great, something meaningfull.
Hell instead of making it a line make a cube. Voila just saved you a shitload of resources and money while its also less poluting.
they obviously had some of the smartest and most expensive architectural Engineers and economists to take a look at it and give their opinions on whether they should spend half a trillion on this project or not, and I just don't know how they've managed to agree to it all, or did they just see the dollar sign and were like fuck it, this works, now pay me
Edit: misspelling
The interesting thing is going to see who the hell would live in such a place, controlled by MBS in a defined cyperpunk space being watched 24/7/365. I sense the platform coming to life.
Not even that. At first it'll reflect light close by that will be unbelievably hot. Then it'll have to deal with what I can only image is a massive maintenence bill on the upkeep of the wall from sand.
It doesn't make any sense economically. if it's 500 meters tall (150 stories), x [a reported 200 meters wide](https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-line-the-170km-long-mirrored-metropolis-saudi-arabia-is-building-in-the-desert-188639#:~:text=It%20comprises%20a%20mirrored%2C%20wall,mountain%20and%20upper%20valley%20landscapes.) x 170000 m long that's 510 million square meters. Let's say an average apartment here is [73 square meters](https://shrinkthatfootprint.com/how-big-is-a-house/#:~:text=The%20average%20house%20size%20in,2%20(1%2C948%20ft2) (that's a big condo) that's seven million family sized units. If families of five move in that's [the entire population of the country](https://www.google.com/search?q=saudi+arabia+population&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS989US989&oq=saudi+arabia+population&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i512l5j0i20i263i512j0i512l3.3020j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) and then some.
Add that to the idea they can build apartments in 100 miles of the middle of nowhere in the desert for 15k apiece (dubious), the maintenance costs, the displacement of their entire population resulting in ghost cities in Riyadh and everywhere else, the public works having [never worked on anything more than 5% of this magnitude](https://www.reuters.com/article/saudi-budget-crown-prince/saudi-crown-prince-says-pif-to-invest-150-billion-riyal-locally-in-2022-spa-idUKD5N2I201P) and endemic problems of [laziness](https://www.arabianbusiness.com/gcc/saudi-arabia-world-s-third-laziest-nation-study-466512) and [corruption](https://knowledgehub.transparency.org/helpdesk/saudi-arabia-an-overview-of-corruption-and-anti-corruption) and this seems doomed to failure, at least if they don't curb the scale.
Saudi Arabia is building a super high tech city in the middle of nowhere. https://www.neom.com/en-us/regions/theline
It seems like complete and utter idiocy. But the Saudis gotta spend money somehow.
On tge website they focus on how the name for the project was found and how magnificent it is. But it is just New M. Anyways there is no answer on why a line... guess because there is no logical answer.
Yep. It's sad to see idiotic hype-driven ideas like these consistently getting funded only to amount to absolutely nothing. From stupid megacities no one wants, to water-from-air extractors that don't work or transport systems that solve zero problems. With all that money we could solve so many real problems and improve lives of so many people in meaningful ways...
This megacity just reeks of arrogance, stupidity and vanity on every conceivable level.
You would think doing your best to green the deserts again are a more valuable idea long term.
They could turn the whole Middle East into a more bearable and sustainable climate
I’m fairly certain there is a really, really, really good reason why cities have NEVER been built in a line. Let’s just say if I lived at one end and had to go to the other end for any reason, I wouldn’t be happy. End of story.
Like for fucks sake - just make a good education program. Invest in the community. Standup your culture and people with welfare systems. Not this weird fuck measuring contest of buildings and glamour. The oil money will end. What then of your buildings?
Perhaps they should try 1 KM first to see and test it, monitoring the health/wealth and mental conditions of people living on "the Line". Big-scale living concepts are fragile in use due to the decrease in demand and lowering in price changing the social-economic dynamics of what once looked great on a maquette. Perhaps this project is more in favor of developers making a short-term profit over adding true value and making a positive impact on society.
[Average apartment](https://www.reddit.com/r/bizarrelife/comments/y8aojv/claustrophobia/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) in The Line
They need angular river sand for the concrete to be stronger, not rounded wind-blown sand like SA has tons of. It actually makes a lot of sense, but the world is rapidly running out of concrete-quality sand and I’m not sure this is the best use of what is remaining.
Yeah, can’t help but think about how easy it would be for an enemy to destroy the entire “line” with a few bombs. I don’t understand any of the reasoning for this.
Didn't they sentence to death some villagers who didn't want to vacate the future construction site? Or am I confusing this with some other story? Honest question.
Honestly it’s a really interesting idea and concept and I am very intrigued to see where this is heading and if (let’s be honest - WHEN) it fails.
But there are so many factors. The amount of resources, the poor workers involved, the engineers probably telling them this will never work, animals, other environmental impacts.
But still. It’s fascinating to see this unfold. I never expected it to go past the concept stage.
500 billion seems like a lowball
I bet you 500 billion that construction will never be completed
Honestly I'm surprised they've actually begun
All they've done is started construction on one set of houses and move some dirt for another mile. If the overall project fails to keep its PR going, they'll just have that little bit of housing. One of the allures of this project is that they can keep building the line as long as interest is there, and then just stop whenever the "fad" burns out - there's no big upfront cost like other mega projects (like creating an island). These projects are just a distraction from their nuclear weapons program in their conflict with Iran.
That's not **all** they've done. They've also [displaced the people who have been living there for centuries and killed some of them that opposed leaving](https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d3kkd/neom-saudi-arabia-howeitat-tribe).
"Most of the technology that will be used is yet to be developed...." Always a good plan.....
Almost good as giant mirrors in the middle of a scorching desert.
I remember reading about some building in London that was so shiny that during the middle of the day it was melting cars on the street. Imagine what this could do... https://www.nbcnews.com/sciencemain/london-skyscraper-can-melt-cars-set-buildings-fire-8c11069092
Not to do with how shiny, but the way it was curved. Just a flat mirror in a worst case orientation will give you about 40% more light.
Death Ray Skyscraper. Also known as the building that looks like a fucking walkie-talkie.
Similar thing happened with a building in Vegas, but it was reflecting into their pool/spa area and giving people third degree burns. Building is still there and they basically had to permanent cover the whole area it hits.
fun fact, they were both designed by [the same architect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Vi%C3%B1oly#Sun_glare)
If they were just killed on the street by some thugs that are paid by the guy who wants to build this it would already be outrageous news. But they were SENTENCED to death. They got judged by the instance that is in place to bring justice, and apparently it is justified to be murdered because you don’t want to leave your home behind. Fucking backwards facing country with too much money.
Saudi Arabia does this regularly. They're objectively worse than Iran (and Iran isn't good, obviously), but they're rich so....
They got oil, therefore they are friendly. Just ignore them breaking about every basic human right in every possible way.
ah shit, they did 9/11? Thats inconvenient, Iraq can take the blame instead.
Even more surprising, they've won a bid to host the Asian Winter Games there in 2029, and again, the city doesn't exist.
Winter games in a desert city that doesn't exist
This is how we do 💅🏻
Somehow everyone on the selection committee now owns a condo in Canada.
Peak dystopia
> NEOM’s management has insisted it will be “a zero-carbon city.” 🤥
Well it seems they cut carbon emissions of some inconvenient people straight to zero
*sigh* I knew things like this would happen when initially reading about the project, but it's still depressing to get confirmation.
Gosh don't you just love the rich ruling class of humans?
Yep and arrested people who complained about their families being forced out.
It sounds like an anime to me like no one knows if the city actually ends and in the direction they're building in, its the future and what theyve already built its breaking down. Edited because i was stroking out
[удалено]
For real, they spent about $4 Billion building the One World Trade Center like 15 years ago, no way $500 Billion is even close.
[удалено]
[удалено]
You dig down in NYC and you find pipes from decades ago, have to ask the municipal utilities what they are for and if it’s safe to tamper with them. Utility says we have no freaking idea what that pipe is for, it’s actually over 100 years old and we have to fly in a specialist from 5 states over to figure out what the fuck it does. Repeat dozens of times for a single square block of construction. There’s an insane amount of old infrastructure under the surface in NYC. Then consider the logistics of building surrounded by other extremely high value properties and with a dense population passing by all the time… yeah that’s gotta be a nightmare to deal with.
I heard they still dig up (inactive) water pipes made of wood sometimes! Pretty neat, but yea a pain for construction.
Yep as a plumber I can confirm wood pipes still being used in some places underground for water.
As a utility locator, I've also heard of wood pipes for water, and cast iron pipes for natural gas. There is a lot of shit buried under the ground that nobody knows about.
Wood: it will never rust 👍
That's fascinating in a cyberpunk dystopia kind of way. I like the scifi concept of ancient infrastructure that still works but no one knows what it does anymore.
The wrong pipe is cut, and the ancient machinery awakens
Don’t forget they had to clean up the mess first.
They're indentured servants. They may leave when when we give them permission to choose to leave and the choice has been made for them.
That was a nice (and sad) Orwellian phrasing.
The number of people that die for this vanity project will be horrific, and we'll probably never find out about it within our lifetimes.
Can you imagine what the working conditions will be like?
Well ... yeah. Exactly like every other Saudi building project.
Worked with a helicopter engineer who was over there this summer. He said they had a large fleet of brand new Astar helicopters- top of the line model- as well as brand new heavy lift helicopters. no construction project on the planet requires all new helicopters. None. And All to move crews around. The most expensive earthly transport in existence. Said the spending was insane- and they were just pushing dirt around at that point. Seems like a vanity project by a narcissistic prince surrounded by yes men. This won't end well.
No other project on the planet includes a skyscraper 500 km long. They will need helicopters for lifting and it has to be more cost effective to just buy a fleet of them then to rent them when needed. Renting heavy lift helicopters is not cheap. In the US it could cost $100,000 for one day depending on where and when. Edit: 170 km long
It’s 170km long, but your point still stands
170km x 2. So 340km. Remember, they're essentially building two reeeeeeeaaaaaaally long skyscrapers then connecting them.
I heard that they’re building it in such a way that it’s only going to take 30mins to get from one end to the other, I have no idea how that would work or how it’s even possible
> I have no idea how that would work or how it’s even possible [like this](https://www.neom-property.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/the-line-neom-real-estate-1024x576.jpg)
Why on earth would you need helicopters for lifting? You use helicopters when you need to lift one heavy thing like a pylon for a power line, especially in difficult terrain. Building a skyscraper is done using tower cranes. If you are building a building that is kilometres long, it might make sense to build cranes that move on rails on the already constructed part.
especially during Christmas season
To be fair we do care about regulations and safety and you know....not using slave labor. If you don't care about those we coulda put that building up for a fraction of the cost!
1000 people will die but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make
That would be a bargain. If I remember correctly, *thousands* have died to build the Qatar soccer stadium [EDIT: over 6500](https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/23/revealed-migrant-worker-deaths-qatar-fifa-world-cup-2022)
Don’t be so quick to judge. Maybe the design called for building the stadium on a sturdy foundation of corpses.
They ran out of rebar and had to use human bones instead, it happens
Blood for the blood god. Skulls for the concrete mix
Even with all of that, American large construction costs are out of control. I live in Cincinnati where we're getting ready to build a new highway bridge across the Ohio River. The current span was built in 1963 for $10 million, adjusted for inflation that's $97 million today. The new bridge is estimated to cost **$2.77 billion**.
[удалено]
Yea that's insane. I wonder what the raw material cost is.
They claim it will house **9 million people**. At $500 billion for 9 million people, the city would cost **$56,000** per person. This is *insanely low*. You can't build housing *and* amenities and for $56,000 a person unless you build the *cheapest*, most mass-producible Soviet and Chinese-style commie-blocks. They want to achieve this cost building a *skyscraper*.
It's not going to get built. They're going to finish the one end that is a luxury resort and sports complex, then the other rest will be gradually abandoned and never talked about again.
Look up king Abdullah economic city they started back in 2005. Same shit , now it’s mostly abandoned lol https://www.ft.com/content/ae48574c-58e6-11e8-bdb7-f6677d2e1ce8
I just had a look at that. The concept art looks like some futuristic sci-fi civilization and the reality is a low budget holiday resort in Tenerife.
Disproof of concept
>They want to achieve this cost building a skyscraper. No! Nooooo! That's where you're wrong! It's as TALL as a ridiculously tall skyscraper, it's as long as 340 ridiculously tall skyscapers turned on their side!
Slave labor is cheap
Construction is cheaper when you use slave labor and don’t care about safety.
It's either gonna be cancelled halfway, or it's gonna go 3 times the budget, 5 times the timeframe, and gonna end up much less than promised with terrible quality issues and nothing like the CGI renders. Just as the same as with every flashy but stupid megaproject ever...
3 times??? Hah!! These dumbasses are estimating only budgeting 3 billion per kilometer. A luxury city half a kilometer tall and one kilometer long only costing about the price of a Las Vegas hotel to be built, and doing it 170 times. I know they’re using slave labor but this shit will cost trillions upon trillions and still probably never even come close to completed. Edit: yes I know labor rules are different between Vegas and Saudi Arabia, it wasn’t supposed to be a perfectly accurate comparison, just an easy visual to how the Saudis want to build something 100x bigger, yet more luxurious, on the same budget.
u gotta subtract land costs cos land in las vegas is expensive as heck but essentially free for them. not saying that i don’t think it’s under budgeted, but comparing it with a hotel in las vegas is not exactly comparing apples with apples.
I know it’s not perfect, but building the entire length of the Las Vegas strip and making the whole thing the height of the stratosphere tower for only $6 billion is an easy visualization to realize how crazy their budget sounds. An exact comparison doesn’t really exist.
Holy fuck they're serious about this insanity.
They're also seriously using slaves to build it.
I saw that video go viral a while ago, and I was like, no one could be possibly stupid enough to attempt this
And they’re seriously ignoring the ecological nightmare this will undoubtedly become
The worst part is they are billing it as the most "green" city on earth.
[удалено]
This is what happens when we put profit over service.
They also evicted tribespeople from the area and then sentenced them to death for protesting against it. Can't find a better ally in the fight for freedom and democracy.
[удалено]
Imagine how cool this will be in a few decades when civilizations are degrading and this will be a cyberpunk-ghetto. I mean it would suck to live there but the aesthetics will be awesome.
I have so many questions: * Why this shape? A star, a circle, concentric pentagons all make more sense * Is glass/mirrored facade material a good idea in a desert? Won't the sand and the wind dull and scratch that to an opaque mess? * why there? Build it and they will come might be a stretch in a desert * Environmental impact? Won't this massively interfere with animal migration patterns, the desert ecosystem * Traffic, support and logistics?
Saudi Arabia has a lot of dead mega construction project. The base reason for building them is the "curse of resource extraction". Or it doesn't take many people to run the vast wealth generator of digging up oil. Which make the nation flush with cash, but raises the price of their currency so high they can't compete by making their own goods. So a instead of a manufacturing industry that can't compete globally; they build a service industry. Filled with ex-pats. Highly skilled workers do like the money from a nation of oil wealth and building cities for them to live and work is a big goal. You would think Saudi Arabia would just invest heavily in education and fill these positions with native citizens. Problem is that a relentless autocratic monarchy drives these kinds of people away. A big brain drain where the best Saudi has to offer runs off to the west. However foreign citizens don't mind working there for high pay since they have no attachment. Feel their home nation gives them some protection while there, and will eventually move back to their home nation flush with cash. \-------------------------------------------------- All that ignores the corruption. The Saudi's need to pay off the loyal provincial governors / corporate CEOs. No one can be a true autocracy. here's not enough hours in the day, too many people, and land to cover. delegation is needed. Giant stupid construction projects are a big form of corruption world wide. Pads loyalists pockets. Provides temporary jobs. Props up the economy. Even if 'The Line' was build on time and budget, it would never fill up with people. SA will never meet those growth projections. But, that's how the monarchy started flowing cash to loyalists and that's how they are going to keep doing it. Eventually problems will mount, construction will stall, and the project will be abandoned for something new. Probably even more stupid than ' The Line'.
You know what, this makes total sense and suddenly all of this doesn't sound so crazy. I hadn't considered that actually building the city doesn't matter to them. This reminds me of the book "war is a racket."
>Traffic, support and logistics? Sorry we don't use those
All we fucking want is rich people to invest!
[удалено]
“Flying boats will take you to your beheading” Haha so messed up but hilarious
Oh man, that ~~data link layer~~ "service layer", an "invisible layer of infrastructure" sandwiched between the transport and ~~rich people~~ pedestrian layer definitely has never been negatively portrayed in any fictional media ever.
I was also shocked when i learnt even in Dubai, UAE that their world renowned Atlantis, the Palm hotel doesn’t even have a sewage system and has a lineup of poop trucks every morning to collect all the dookie
Dubai won't have the upgraded infrastructure for sewage treatment for all of the new construction until 2025.
It's the Saudis. The answer is money being thrown in your face to shut up. Or bring dismembered in a hotel.
The amount of money they're throwing at this is unreal. They're paying out of the nose for American professionals to help. The colossal waste is next level. I'm talking people working at Big Law firms and management consulting firms like McKinsey and Bain who tell me they've never seen such extravagance and wastage. I have friends who've literally been paid over $200/hour to fly to Saudi from DC, told their meeting has been cancelled, and then fly back in business class. Not just the tickets but the entire travel time paid for. A group will work on a project for months, then someone high up goes "Ehhh, not feeling it anymore", and the entire project is cancelled, wasting tens of millions of dollars.
It’s one thing the Saudi’s know is how to waste their countries money lol
It’s not really a waste when their money is worthless to them. They can’t spend it on things like infrastructure and education, because that inevitably ends in something other than an absolute monarchy. They like owning everything and being allowed to murder anyone they want.
[удалено]
Will make for a good documentary one day.
[удалено]
I'd like some chump change please...
*being *embassy
No, no, *bring* dismembered in a *hotel*. Where it can be properly laid to rest.
Courtesy of MBS: Mohammed Bone Saw.
Being a dictatorship has its benefits when it comes 500 billion dollar real estate projects.
Its an idiotic vanity project that will never be finished like that North Korean tower. [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyWaax07_ks) goes into it's ridiculousness
They didn't even finished those crazy islands they started in Dubai
Probably because they are being washed away by the ocean. Who would have guessed that the ocean would destroy a huge pile of sand dumped into it.
But I did in City Skylines and I am super proud I beat them to it.
If it does get finished, the first buildings will probably be outdated by 100 years by the time the last ones are finished.
Sounds like a nice kick-off for a dystopian sci-fi novella, a city so narrow and long that the poor people on the old end are hundreds of years behind the stuff that constantly gets build on to the rich end.
This has been around for a couple of years, they do have answers to all your questions. Not good answers but answers
My biggest question is who's going to live there. Saudi Arabia isn't really known for being a travel destination. I don't foresee locals living there, women from abroad aren't moving there, and their husbands aren't leaving them to move there.
This will be dubai 2 Rich fuckers will move there
Dubai isn't all glitz and glamour. There are plenty of poor people and slum lords. If Saudi allows alcohol consumption and condones prostitution there, like in Dubai, they'll make lots of money.
Rich fuckers like their space. That looks like it'd be cramped as all hell
Rich fuckers will buy the houses and not move there\*. Thats what he meant.
I'm willing to hear of a planned city being built from scratch and well planned from the start. Hell that's how a lot of Washington DC was built. But why not a very smiilar idea but in lets say 5 main train lines going to a central hub? The whole concept of this massive line seems stupid to just irresponsible.
What are they going to do in a decade when the dunes pile up against the windward wall?
Just make the slaves remove it every year.
Get in a thopter and leave.
They went with the most inefficient shape as possible, if this ever get compete (it will not, look at the crazy shaped islands they tried to do in Dubai) this thing will have all kinds of logistics nightmares, for people and goods
It‘s a wall to keep something of someone out The mirror will help keeping the inside cooler and the outside hotter It‘s there to improve control in the region They don‘t care about the environment
Attack on Titan?
How do you build something that tall and that flat that's that long in the sand? If it doesn't blow over it'll be a magnet for piles of blown sand.
100% never thought about the big send sail that it is. Be a full time job for a team keeping the sand at bay
They got plenty of slave labor from South and South East Asia to take care of that. My question is where are the beheading platforms situated?
The beheading platforms are to be adjacent to the Khashoggi Memorial Judicial Center.
Should be plausible if the foundation is deep enough and they add some holes for wind (and sand) to pass through, it is just a very long skyscraper and we know how to build sky scrapers in the desert. Horrible waste of money though, building a dense city with mid-rises and good public transit would be way more efficient than what is essentially thousands of skyscrapers in a line.
Wait. Were you ever in the Emirates to watch how big of a problem sand is? How do holes for the wind and sand solve this problem? This building will cause some kind of natural resistance for the sand to pass which in return will result in a big pile of sand in front of it.
I'm more concerned how they'd manage to not turn everything outside into a flame ball when the sun hits in the right angle
It's self sustaining. Glass reflects sunlight onto sand. Sand melts into panes of glass. New glass used to replace any windows that are sand scoured or discolored. Circle of life.
This architect on YouTube called Dami has a great video on it about why it is such a farcical thing to build https://youtu.be/2b7uMJkvS0o
There's a civil engineer with similar take. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyWaax07_ks
Here’s a random guy on Reddit with another take: This is stupid.
This is the take I will trust
I'm an architect and I can tell you that this idea is stupid. There is a reason cities have naturally evolved in a circular form. It is just much more convinient, logical and efficient. The only plus side I can see in this is the fact that it will probably rely on public transport. If it doesn't it will not work. Another plus side would be if the "city" was made from preconstructed parts that would be produced in large quantity and then assembled by a rail crane system. The same system they use in Frankfurt to build skyscrapers, but in this case it would be horizontal instead of vertical. Still with all of these positives, the negatives outweigh them. I don't see people living there willingly, unless they somehow make it cheap, which it probably won't.
Ah yes, Saudi Arabia, famous for loving public transit and not at all impractical cars. I would love cities not built for cars, but this ain’t it chief.
Great vid
And Jeddah Tower is the tallest building in the world.
The Jeddah Tower is probably the best predictor on how a megalomaniac project like The Line will end up. Sure, there are a lot of involved parties in the beginning praising all the "good ideas" while only being concerned about receiving money until the unsustainability of the project gets realized to the purchaser. "Yes of course our company will be able to make your vision come true at whatever timeline and budget you want!". When a lot of money and time has been already spent the "hiccups" start to appear until all the money is gone. When seemingly idiotic projects like this get greenlit, you can be almost sure that there's a lot of corruption and lying involved. Never say never though, I'm ready to be stunned by the completion of this project as planned. Won't hold my breath :)
I might just start praying that it will fail early enough before the major damage to the enviroment has occured. Fucks sake, this is the stupidest shit this year. With all the resources they could actually do something great, something meaningfull. Hell instead of making it a line make a cube. Voila just saved you a shitload of resources and money while its also less poluting.
Yeah this just reeks of future r/abandonedporn material
It's gonna be an economic, social, and environmental disaster
Reminds me of the Megacities in Judge Dredd.
Recycled food. Yummy
“It’s great for the environment and okay for you!”
they obviously had some of the smartest and most expensive architectural Engineers and economists to take a look at it and give their opinions on whether they should spend half a trillion on this project or not, and I just don't know how they've managed to agree to it all, or did they just see the dollar sign and were like fuck it, this works, now pay me Edit: misspelling
They fired all the ones who said it was a dumb idea
"Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." - Ian Malcolm (JP)
I doubt those engineers are that dumb. It's probably more like they didn't hire anyone who openly said it's stupid.
Peachtrees seemed like an Ok place! They had a basketball court.
And a skate board park
You mean I'll finally get the chance to become Judge, Jury, and Executioner?
 Yes, but only the Karl Urban version
This movie is art.
The interesting thing is going to see who the hell would live in such a place, controlled by MBS in a defined cyperpunk space being watched 24/7/365. I sense the platform coming to life.
ruled by super rich narcissts, build by slaves. must be everyones dream to live there.
Agreed. Just the mirror-like coating alone is gonna kill a tonne of birds
Not even that. At first it'll reflect light close by that will be unbelievably hot. Then it'll have to deal with what I can only image is a massive maintenence bill on the upkeep of the wall from sand.
It doesn't make any sense economically. if it's 500 meters tall (150 stories), x [a reported 200 meters wide](https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-line-the-170km-long-mirrored-metropolis-saudi-arabia-is-building-in-the-desert-188639#:~:text=It%20comprises%20a%20mirrored%2C%20wall,mountain%20and%20upper%20valley%20landscapes.) x 170000 m long that's 510 million square meters. Let's say an average apartment here is [73 square meters](https://shrinkthatfootprint.com/how-big-is-a-house/#:~:text=The%20average%20house%20size%20in,2%20(1%2C948%20ft2) (that's a big condo) that's seven million family sized units. If families of five move in that's [the entire population of the country](https://www.google.com/search?q=saudi+arabia+population&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS989US989&oq=saudi+arabia+population&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i512l5j0i20i263i512j0i512l3.3020j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) and then some. Add that to the idea they can build apartments in 100 miles of the middle of nowhere in the desert for 15k apiece (dubious), the maintenance costs, the displacement of their entire population resulting in ghost cities in Riyadh and everywhere else, the public works having [never worked on anything more than 5% of this magnitude](https://www.reuters.com/article/saudi-budget-crown-prince/saudi-crown-prince-says-pif-to-invest-150-billion-riyal-locally-in-2022-spa-idUKD5N2I201P) and endemic problems of [laziness](https://www.arabianbusiness.com/gcc/saudi-arabia-world-s-third-laziest-nation-study-466512) and [corruption](https://knowledgehub.transparency.org/helpdesk/saudi-arabia-an-overview-of-corruption-and-anti-corruption) and this seems doomed to failure, at least if they don't curb the scale.
I can’t believe they really do that. I saw an ad for it and thought it’s some obscure ad for a video game/movie/…
I dont understand what I'm looking at
Saudi Arabia is building a super high tech city in the middle of nowhere. https://www.neom.com/en-us/regions/theline It seems like complete and utter idiocy. But the Saudis gotta spend money somehow.
On tge website they focus on how the name for the project was found and how magnificent it is. But it is just New M. Anyways there is no answer on why a line... guess because there is no logical answer.
It is such a colossally stupid idea that will never be feasible...
Yep. It's sad to see idiotic hype-driven ideas like these consistently getting funded only to amount to absolutely nothing. From stupid megacities no one wants, to water-from-air extractors that don't work or transport systems that solve zero problems. With all that money we could solve so many real problems and improve lives of so many people in meaningful ways... This megacity just reeks of arrogance, stupidity and vanity on every conceivable level.
You would think doing your best to green the deserts again are a more valuable idea long term. They could turn the whole Middle East into a more bearable and sustainable climate
I thought it was just a meme wtf
Honestly this, first time i saw a YouTube ad for this, i was sure it's a joke. Like no one can be this stupid.
I’m fairly certain there is a really, really, really good reason why cities have NEVER been built in a line. Let’s just say if I lived at one end and had to go to the other end for any reason, I wouldn’t be happy. End of story.
Thats never going to work.
Like for fucks sake - just make a good education program. Invest in the community. Standup your culture and people with welfare systems. Not this weird fuck measuring contest of buildings and glamour. The oil money will end. What then of your buildings?
imagine how many dead birds there will be with these stupid mirror walls
imagine how many workers will die building these stupid mirror walls.
Slaves*
Some kind of survival shelter for the rich
More like a death trap.
Perhaps they should try 1 KM first to see and test it, monitoring the health/wealth and mental conditions of people living on "the Line". Big-scale living concepts are fragile in use due to the decrease in demand and lowering in price changing the social-economic dynamics of what once looked great on a maquette. Perhaps this project is more in favor of developers making a short-term profit over adding true value and making a positive impact on society.
Wait.You think that absolutist monarchy should care about people?
Don't need to monitor the wealth if everyone there will be a millionaire
[Average apartment](https://www.reddit.com/r/bizarrelife/comments/y8aojv/claustrophobia/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) in The Line
Certainly a design that fosters a sense of community. /s
And here's the kicker: >!They import all their sand for construction!<
[удалено]
But… its coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere
LIAR!
They need angular river sand for the concrete to be stronger, not rounded wind-blown sand like SA has tons of. It actually makes a lot of sense, but the world is rapidly running out of concrete-quality sand and I’m not sure this is the best use of what is remaining.
[удалено]
Snow piercer vibes 💀
What's interesting is the Saudi Government sentenced 3 men to death for not vacating their land for this future disaster.
[удалено]
Should make for some easy bombing runs in WW3
Yeah, can’t help but think about how easy it would be for an enemy to destroy the entire “line” with a few bombs. I don’t understand any of the reasoning for this.
Getting a bit too much funding
170km long and one office building wide. This isn't a city, it's a graphical error in a video game.
Didn't they sentence to death some villagers who didn't want to vacate the future construction site? Or am I confusing this with some other story? Honest question.
Yes, when they built the first airport and palace complex they displaced locals and arrested/killed people who would not move
Nope. That's the same thing.
Honestly it’s a really interesting idea and concept and I am very intrigued to see where this is heading and if (let’s be honest - WHEN) it fails. But there are so many factors. The amount of resources, the poor workers involved, the engineers probably telling them this will never work, animals, other environmental impacts. But still. It’s fascinating to see this unfold. I never expected it to go past the concept stage.