Saudi Arabia has unveiled a huge project of a linear city over 170 kilometers in the northwest of the country. This urban complex, which is supposed to embody the city of the future, is intended to be CO2 emission-free and car-free.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmane recently unveiled his crazy plan to build a city along a 170-kilometer straight line in the northwest of the country. Called The Line, this urban complex is intended to be completely carbon neutral and has technological goals worthy of science fiction.

Connecting one end to the other in 20 minutes

The Line will be car-free on its massive artery in an effort to eliminate urban pollution. All essential businesses will be accessible within a five-minute walk. To get around The Line, residents will still have access to underground transportation, housing a subway and trains. The mobility planned in this city is an ambitious project since the speed of the transport will allow to connect one end of the 160 kilometers of line to the other in 20 minutes, thanks to a speed of 500 km / hour. In addition to this feat, the prince promises that the means of transport will be safe and clean.

Set of modules

More precisely, this giga-city will be made up of several small cities or “modules”, connected by the transportation axis. The buildings will be carbon neutral and powered by clean energy. Underneath the city, just above the transportation, a level dedicated to services is planned. The Line is expected to house one million people.

The Line project is located in the Neom region, a newly created entity in 2017 by Saudi Arabia that falls under the country’s Vision 2030 project. This border region with Jordan and Egypt plans to be entirely powered by renewable energy through solar panels and wind farms. 95% of the land in Neom will also be protected. The cost of this project, which includes The Line, is estimated at 500 billion dollars. It will be financed by the Saudi sovereign fund according to Al Arabia.

Artificial intelligence will be omnipresent

Another promise of this city of the future: the massive use of artificial intelligence (AI). The developers of The Line said in a statement that communities will be “cognitive” and powered by AI, which will “continuously learn predictive ways to make life easier.” They add that 90% of the available data will be leveraged to improve infrastructure capabilities, when only 1% is currently used in smart cities.

Construction of this monumental The Line project is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2021.