Is this the future of the built environment?
Have you heard about The Line? It passed us by too when it was first announced by Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia in January 2021, but as chartered surveyors we’re naturally intrigued by such a remarkable idea. Saudi Arabia has plans to build a 170km ‘line’ of interconnected communities and buildings, without cars and roads, built around nature, writes Zah Azeem, Partner at Wimbledon based Chartered Surveyors Scrivener Tibbatts.
The promotional video shows what the futuristic city will look like.
The project is built upon the idea of layering city functions vertically while giving people the possibility of moving seamlessly in three dimensions – up, down or across – to access them is a concept referred to as Zero Gravity Urbanism.
Different from just tall buildings, this involves layering public parks and pedestrian areas, schools, homes and places for work, so that one can move effortlessly to reach all daily needs within five minutes walk, in addition to a high-speed rail with an end-to-end transit of 20 minutes.
It really looks like a cityscape from Blade Runner.
The Line’s structure and its processes will run on 100 per cent renewable energy and prioritise people’s health and well-being over transportation and infrastructure as in traditional cities. It will eventually accommodate nine million residents and will be built on a footprint of 34 Km2, which is unheard of when compared to other cities of similar capacity.
Will it happen?
If it was a project tabled here in the UK, clearly never. We still can’t decide where to build a third runway in Heathrow. But since Mohammed bin Salman has given a target date of 2030, and there’s a lot of empty desert above the oil in Saudi Arabia, we rather suspect it might.
We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on the project’s progress.
As Mohammed bin Salman, the said at the project’s launch: “Throughout history, cities were built to protect their citizens. After the Industrial Revolution, cities prioritized machines, cars and factories over people. In cities that are viewed as the world’s most advanced, people spend years of their lives commuting. By 2050, commute durations will double. By 2050, one billion people will have to relocate due to rising CO2 emissions and sea levels. 90 per cent of people breathe polluted air. Why should we sacrifice nature for the sake of development? Why should seven million people die every year because of pollution? Why should we lose one million people every year due to traffic accidents? And why should we accept wasting years of our lives commuting?”
Happy Christmas.
If you would like to discuss something related to a property valuation, please contact me direct via email at zah@scrivenertibbatts.co.uk or call 020 8947 7040.
