The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants to formalize the start of a major project in the first quarter of 2021. The line, that’s the name of this future great smart city in the country. Saudi Arabia’s goal is to create a city with energy 100% through clean energies. According to the government, The Line will be able to accommodate one million residents.
The Line: the dream city of the future of the Saudi crown prince
This city is obviously long, but it has to be extend over 170 kilometers. According to the prince, this $ 500 billion project was supposed to create a “hyper-connected community”. There are no cars on the line. Still, the city will be designed to offer very fast means of transportAutonomous shuttles are available to residents. Sponsors claim that: “No matter where you are, schools and clinics will never be more than a five-minute walk away. No trip is expected to take longer than 20 minutes. “.
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It is believed that one million people live in The Line. The city will be visibly geared towards “nature” and clean energies. The visible part of the city will only be dedicated to pedestriansThere will be two levels underground for important infrastructures and traffic. The prince and his teams say that artificial intelligence will be able to monitor the line.
Data and predictive models should help find ways to improve daily life over the years. Construction of the line is scheduled to begin this first quarter. This green metropolis is part of the big project of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Vision 2030. In the coming years 380,000 jobs must be created.
An already very controversial project
Nevertheless, this project is very controversial. The construction of the line requires relocation of the Huwaitat tribe, a people who live exactly where the prince wants to build his city of the future. Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti, a member of this tribe, was killed by Saudi security forces last year after he stated on video that he and other members of the tribe were risking deportation. Saudi Arabia already has a long history of human rights issues.
The murder of Jamal Khashoggi recently caused a stir. This Saudi journalist fought against online abuse. We then learned that Saudi Arabia had infiltrated Twitter spy Ali Alzabarah. whose mission it was to spy on the reports of academics and journalists.
There have been many smart city projects in recent years. We are thinking in particular of Toyota and its Woven City project at the foot of Mount Fuji. As a smaller project, 2,000 people have to live in this city of the future. There are also the Bill Gates projectwho wants to build a smart city in Arizona with his $ 80 billion. The American billionaire bought land the size of Paris in 2017.
