Arabia understands things never seen before, proven magnetism. Like Neom, an urban prophecy on the edge of the Red Sea, destined to become “an accelerator of human progress.”
The prophets of McKinsey, Boston and other selected consulting firms saw the light after their journey through the desert, in the northwest of that peninsula. The revelation is still clearing in the throats and powerpoints of its epigones. But it is already known that the promise will be stunning and green. Less for chlorophyll than for green hydrogen, key in the ecological transition, in which Arabia aspires to position itself with an advantage, as before with black gold.
Saudi heir Mohamed bin Salman has pledged his authority to Neom. A project launched by himself six years ago in the so-called Davos of the desert, in Riyadh. The finishing touch to its Vision 2030 to depend less on oil and diversify the economy.
Six years later, he still has very little to show for it. But she already promises, as it could not be otherwise, a new life. In cities that – sumptuous expenses aside – will be eternally ecological and intelligent. Although not as much as the vanguard of the human race who want them to run there, from entrepreneurs to digital nomads, with facilities for mooring the yacht.
“This is the best-paid madhouse in the world,” summarizes a Neom employee, whose name must remain hidden. “Madness takes shape as the path is made,” they defend from OMA, one of the large architecture firms hired to imagine The Line.
In reality, some dirt has been moved in recent months, while Neom gained concreteness. For example, reducing a project that, due to its size – similar to that of Catalonia – to five areas with abstruse names, could never have been a single city. Namely, Sindalah, Leyja, Trojena, Oxagon and The Line.
While the finger is pointing at Neom, the coast is undergoing five-star development, with mansions of up to 12,000 square meters. Still, Neom runs the risk of gestating an elephant and giving birth to a mouse.
Likewise, Neom will be a high-security utopia, under a scrutinizing eye. Although it also generates more horizontal dynamics full of the future. Among its thousands of employees there are many Saudis. And its airport is now a reality, with a daily flight to Riyadh and a weekly flight to London.
Neom is a blockbuster, with illustrations halfway between Marvel and video games. Not in vain are they signed by the best visual effects specialists in Hollywood, such as Olivier Pron, responsible for Guardians of the Galaxy, Prince of Persia or Iron Man. Today, he is also involved in visualizing a climate for The Line, the linear city.
Science fiction is still the framework, but there is less and less talk about flying taxis and an artificial full moon for the entire year. And the pressure grows to show something tangible.
Bin Salman, who has also been prime minister for a year, has no counterpart with as much power, financial capacity and decades ahead to shape the future. Even if it is an externalized and choral vision.
The creators who work at Neom admit that they are not used to clients so willing to make a clean slate. Contributing to this is the fact that the Arab world has been left without urban references. Dubai is something else, although it is also the rival to beat. There, Neom has in its favor being two hours less by flight from Europe. And have the money that Sharm el Sheikh will never have.
Thus, in 2024, Sindalah will open, an island intended for the repair of yachts and the vacation of its owners. Likewise, the achievement of the 2029 Asian Winter Games will require the completion of Trojena, a ski resort crowned with a crystalline skyscraper, by the Zaha Hadid office.
Although there is plenty of land, Neom is not going to be less than Bahrain and Singapore, so its logistics city, Oxagon, will be an octagon reclaimed from the sea. While Leyja allows itself to present itself as the most ecological luxury resort, although it distorts an intact gorge.
But the icing on the cake is The Line, which promises, to anyone who wants to believe it, 170 kilometers of city 500 meters high and barely 200 meters wide, with no other vehicle than a metro line. Another proof that it is necessary to sell a lot of oil to think, in a big way, of a tomorrow without oil.
