![‘Huge Glass Cage’; Will Saudi Arabia's Giga-projects Transform the Living Experience? [Part I]](https://al-sarira.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/1111.jpg)
Located in the northern borderline territory of Saudi Arabia, the utopian city known as “Neom” is arguably the most ostentatious and outlandish giga-project in the nation’s history. Following a year of financial issues and other difficulties, the venture is attempting a makeover. The difficulties seemed to threaten significant components of Neom. Following a while of negative press coverage, Nadhmi al-Nasr was fired. He has been leading the initiative since six years ago and was a former specialist of Saudi oil giant. The problems started earlier this year when it was announced that The Line, Neom’s flagship venture, would become operational at the end of the decade at a distance of less than 5 kilometers. Originally 170 km long, 500 meters high, and 200 meters wide, The Line is an ambitious linear metropolis.
Additional reports surfaced about prominent foreign nationals receiving large pay and a terrible working atmosphere. The situation worsened as scores of workers perished during the construction’s development. As the giga-project timeline is being impacted by decreasing energy prices, the construction phase is still not far past constructing the groundwork.
Although Nasr was an easy victim, his successor will have to persuade international businesses. Aiman al-Mudaifer of Neom’s local real estate business has taken over as project manager. The Public Investment Fund, Neom’s owner firm, has attempted to recruit Chinese financiers, and they should be persuaded that The Line is moving forward.
Neom has other projects outside The Line. Over ten other ultra-rich complexes are now under established around the Gulf of Aqaba. Each of them has an unlikely sci-fi title that comes directly from imagination, such Siranna, Zardun, and Xaynor. But together, they are sold under the name Magna. They have been designed by renowned designers from throughout the world.
Sindalah is a vacation spot that falls more under the category of custom and normalcy. Next year, visitors will begin to visit Sindalah. Green hydrogen and other trendy sectors are the emphasis of Oxagon, a business metropolis. Additionally, the Asian Winter Games will be held at the alpine resort of Trojena five years later.
However, The Line has become recognized as the centerpiece component of the larger Saudi “Vision 2030” initiative. It entails radically changing the culture that was tightly controlled and extremely traditional just ten years ago.
The emerging nation will serve as a sandbox for the next generation of Silicon bro rulers and other ultra-rich groups from throughout the world. The fact that PIF’s president was just photographed speaking with Elon Musk and Donald Trump, the US president-elect, appears revealing.
Last month, the executives of The Line appeared on panel for a heavily staged forum session at a real estate show in Riyadh, right after the announcement of Neom’s incoming acting CEO.
They were there to promote what they called a nine-million-person revolutionary city for the next phase of human civilization. But it seemed like a dismal picture of living sheltered from an obviously inhospitable environment by a huge glass cage.
The main concept was to establish the settlements on all sides of a Central Park-like region, modeled after Manhattan, which was among the first linear towns. They were intended to be built as two long fences that surrounded a wide-open public area that ran across the width of the town. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is credited for coming up with the concept of folding the town up along this natural corridor. Leading architects throughout the planet have been pleased to support it, including Peter Cook, whose Cook Haffner Architecture Platform is the principal developer.
The chief executive officer of The Line’s architecture claims that the metropolis would address the issues associated with contemporary life. “We’ve all endured traffic, environmental damage and solitude in the cities of the present day,” he stated.
(to be continued)
![‘Huge Glass Cage’; Will Saudi Arabia's Giga-projects Transform the Living Experience? [Part I]](https://al-sarira.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/1111-350x250.jpg)
