Tsunami Costabir gives you a peek into the design of the world’s first ever zero-gravity, vertical smart city – a super ambitious project in Saudi Arabia.
Trailblazers in technology and architecture, Saudi Arabia stuns again! This time, by unveiling the design of the world’s first-ever zero-gravity, vertical city! Located within NEOM in the northwest of Saudi Arabia, endowed with diverse terrain – the Red Desert and the snow-capped mountains looking over the Gulf of Arabia – The Line is a 170 km belt of communities connected without the need for cars or roads located in NEOM, a destination being built in the Tabuk Province in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The smart city will be only 200 meters wide, 170 kilometers long, and 500 meters above sea level.
The city is set to eventually accommodate 9 million residents and will be built on a footprint of 34 square kilometers, which is unheard of when compared to other cities of similar capacity. This, in turn, will reduce the infrastructure and transportation footprint and create never-seen-before efficiencies in city functions.
The Line is designed to run on 100% renewable energy. Its water will be produced through advanced desalination. The extraction of potable water from seawater is normally frowned upon because the process involves dumping the salts back into the sea, altering the salinity of the water, and the ecology of the sea. In NEOM, a zero-brine discharge policy will retain and use the salts for other purposes. The water in The Line will also be recycled and reused, as with many similar processes currently used elsewhere.
Engineered with hyper proximity in mind, key amenities will always be within a 5-minute walk, in addition to a high-speed rail with an end-to-end transit of 20 minutes. To put the scale of The Line in perspective, it would take over an hour — perhaps nearly 2 hours — to drive that length by car. Meanwhile, nature is never more than 2 minutes away as the design plans to preserve 95% of NEOM’s land. Further, its unique architecture will permit a required and adequate amount of light to pass through its glass structure that has a mirror facade (from inside The Line, one can still look out).
HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman states, “We cannot ignore the livability and environmental crises facing our world’s cities, and NEOM is at the forefront of delivering new and imaginative solutions to address these issues. NEOM is leading a team of the brightest minds in architecture, engineering, and construction to make the idea of building upwards a reality. It will be a place for all people from across the globe to make their mark on the world in creative and innovative ways. NEOM remains one of the most important projects of Saudi Vision 2030, and our commitment to delivering The Line on behalf of the nation remains resolute.” The project is reinventing urbanism, seeking to remove the pollution, noise, and sprawl of city living in favor of an ultra-efficient utopia.
The construction of The Line started in 2021 and it is expected that people can start living in it by the year 2030. The first habitable population will be about 1 million people. As the project expands, it will gradually increase to its intended goal of housing 9 million people. The Line has the vision to bring back health and joy into the city, and give people back time — instead of them being busy with tedious, daily tasks. …Making more time for hobbies, interests and friends; and bringing about change in urban life!
