Saudi Arabia to build 150km linear city

[UndercoverElephant]

https://www.dezeen.com/2021/01/13/line- ... city-neom/

I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

More here : https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7a598/ ... umber-form

[adam2]

It SOUNDS a splendid idea, but given the nature of society in that country, I am VERY doubtful about the practical application. Whilst a near utopian linear city sounds a fine ideal, I associate Saudi arabia with massive fossil fuel use, women hating, homosexual murdering, terrorist sponsoring, and a corrupt and inefficient state, rather than with the building of anything utopian.

The largely hot and dry climate implies very considerable energy use for desalination of sea water, and the mechanical cooling of buildings, This COULD be achieved from renewable sources, but would it be.
Water can only be recycled a limited number of times since it becomes saline and unfit for re-use, unless distilled or purified by reverese osmosis, both costly procesess.
There is also little fertile land, which implies some rather sophisticated recycling of nutrients for agriculture, doable but requires considerable technology and expertise.

[BritDownUnder]

It would not even be a straight line as it is on the surface of the earth which is a sphere. An arc perhaps. Maybe Arc-city or "The Arc" does not sound so good. Perhaps it would remind them of Noah's Ark and that there were other religions going before theirs came along.

From what I understand Neom is supposed to be a bit like the Vegas of Saudi Arabia with less strict religious laws than the rest of the country. While it would be a source of economic activity and maybe even green innovations I don't think it will happen on the intended scale. Maybe a few suburbs will get built and then someone else will have another idea or a war will come along and it will get forgotten about. Perhaps the Saudis will look back on it and think of it a bit like people in the UK think of Milton Keynes.

[Catweazle]

Why build a linear city ? Circular would be more sensible. Unless you want a city easily controlled with barriers. Ghettos one end, Royalty the other, checkpoints in between.

[BritDownUnder]

I remember a joke from my school days. Why did the Romans build straight roads? So there could be no Indian corner shops.

A line would certainly maximise distances between two randomly chosen points in the city compared with a grid layout.

[UndercoverElephant]

I remember a joke from my school days. Why did the Romans build straight roads? So there could be no Indian corner shops.

That is a shit joke, given that corner shops are found at the intersections of straight roads.

[BritDownUnder]

I remember a joke from my school days. Why did the Romans build straight roads? So there could be no Indian corner shops.

That is a shit joke, given that corner shops are found at the intersections of straight roads.

This was Nottinghamshire in the 1970s and 80s. Not PC and not always right. A truly grim place to grow up. That was about the tamest joke that was doing the rounds.

[adam2]

A circular city would indeed reduce distances and facilitate walking or cycling between homes, workplaces, shops and other facilities in a small city.
In the case of a larger city, then even a circular city will innvolve distances too great to walk. Observe the congested roads and public transport in London for example.

A linear city has the great advantage that public transport is much simpler. A narrow city that is 150Km long could be simply served by a railway line along the middle, with stops perhaps every 15 KM. Run a bus or tram route paralell to the rail line, with stops every 500 meters to cater for local journeys.
Travelling the whole length of this linear city by train might take an hour or so. The tram might take about 6 hours (300 stops, allow one minute per stop) but would be intended for local journeys, not for travesing the whole length of the city.
The great majority of journeys between home, work and shops would less than 30 minutes. (10 minutes for ten tram stops, 10 minutes wait for the tram, ten minutes total walking distance)

[BritDownUnder]

I watched the video with MBS explaining that people are dying of pollution and spending too much time commuting. Looks like they want it to be split up into smaller 'beads' along the line with everything 5 minutes walking distance from people. I see a cross section with underground 'tubes' carrying freight and people and services. It looks like the land it quite rugged so tunnels and excavations may be required in large parts. It looks like it even straddles a mountain range at one point.

I can't see it happening but could be persuaded to visit if it does happen to see for myself. I think the Saudis will run out of money first or have other priorities. I can't think of an example of a new city being made in recent times. Maybe Brasilia or Canberra or the new Myanmar capital but these were all national capitals. I also wonder what all the people who live there will do as work.

[Catweazle]

I suppose that if conditions made it impossible to live on the surface a mostly underground city might be useful.

[kenneal - lagger]

The best way to run the trams would be from each train stop in each direction to about half way to the next stop and back, maybe even all the way to the next stop and back. That way you do not run the risk of delay compounding along a long route so it's easier to keep to the timetable. Also, not so many drivers/conductors get left a long way from home at the end of the day.

When I was kid going to school in London by bus, if a bus was really late because of the heavy traffic they would stop a really late one and send it back from whence it came and do the same with the one coming the other way to pick up the passengers turfed off the first turned bus in an effort to keep the timetable going. It used to really p**s off those turfed off the bus but I presume that the practice has been going for a long time and so they knew it worked. The passengers might be really late for work or school but at least the buses were on time!!

[adam2]

Latest report here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68945445

Does not sound very utopian for those being displaced.

[BritDownUnder]

I like this YouTube monologue about the Line. It's quite funny really when you realise he is delivering such brilliant sarcasm.

[adam2]

Doubts have been expressed as to whether the linear city, and other large projects might be scaled back.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cyrr3mm8evyo

[clv101]

Of course it'll be (dramatically) scaled down. It's a nonsense as originally proposed.