# Saudi Arabia's "The Line" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 29, 2022, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749 "2022-07-29T03:39:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/1 "2022-07-29T03:39:25Z")
Saudi Arabia is planning on building a 170-kilometer long, 200 meter wide, mirror-sided city called The Line, which is planned to be self-sustaining and carbon neutral. It’s expected to cost $500 billion. > **[The Line, Saudi Arabia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Line,_Saudi_Arabia)** > > The Line (Arabic: ذا لاين) is a linear smart city under construction in Saudi Arabia in Neom, Tabuk Province, which is designed to have no cars, streets or carbon emissions. The 170-kilometre-long (110 mi) city is part of Saudi Vision 2030 project, which Saudi Arabia claims will create around 460,000 jobs and add an estimated $48 billion to the country's GDP. The Line is planned to be the first development of a $500 billion project in Neom. The city's plans anticipate a populati The project ha... ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/2 "2022-07-29T03:58:08Z")
Every 17km there will be a boning room where dissidents can be recycled in a carbon neutral fashion. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/3 "2022-07-29T04:02:02Z")
As a context free post of a wiki article, without explanation or commentary in the OP, why should this pro-Saudi propaganda not be deemed and treated as spam? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/4 "2022-07-29T04:02:39Z")
nevermind ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/5 "2022-07-29T04:03:33Z")
Because your OP merits nothing more constructive ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/6 "2022-07-29T05:27:07Z")
It was interesting, and I am not sure that the OP merits a steaming dump taken on it. Whatever floats your boat I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/7 "2022-07-29T06:06:09Z")
Because this is MPSIMS which says right on the tin it’s for sharing mundane points things. This OP jumps that low hurdle easily IMHO. As to the proposal it’s idiotic and will never happen. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/8 "2022-07-29T06:06:33Z")
1 million people is a lot smaller a population than I thought it’d have. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/9 "2022-07-29T07:03:40Z")
It sounds like the most expensive dystopian sci-fi film set ever! ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/10 "2022-07-29T09:27:48Z")
But think of how much we’ll save on shooting the next Judge Dredd reboot! ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/11 "2022-07-29T09:35:13Z")
It certainly has Rome’s 1 kilometer residential complex [Corviale](https://www.archdaily.com/956906/corviale-a-one-kilometer-residential-complex-in-rome) comfortably beaten. It is worth a virtual trip: > **[Corviale building in Rome, Italy (Google Maps)](https://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/corviale-building/view/google/)** > > Corviale building (Google Maps). Twin palace long 980 m ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/12 "2022-07-29T10:10:42Z")
**Moderator Note** > [@penultima\_thule](#): > > why should this pro-Saudi propaganda not be deemed and treated as spam? It’s definitely not spam. You have a point that the OP is a bit too context-free, but that doesn’t mean that this is pro-Saudi propaganda. Sharing something that is very different is not necessarily an advertisement for such. This isn’t an announcement for investors. It’s just sharing a wikipedia article. There’s no need to attack the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/13 "2022-07-30T14:03:47Z")
If this is an experimental city, then why make it so large … err long? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/14 "2022-07-30T14:15:30Z")
FWIW, the wiki article has one sentence at the end that mentions some criticisms of the idea. > [@](#): > > This also raised questions about the merits of the design and environmental issues, with critics concerned the project would create a “dystopian” and “artificial” facility that has already displaced the Huwaitat indigenous tribe and would impact the migration of birds and wildlife. It’s not all Saudi Chamber of Commerce stuff. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/15 "2022-07-30T16:51:24Z")
Why the seemingly arbitrary orientation? I’d have guessed it would line up along the coast. And, looking at the map, Saudi is a lot bigger than I’d thought. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/16 "2022-07-30T16:59:03Z")
I haven’t read the Wikipedia article but how can a city be 110 miles long and have no cars or roads? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/17 "2022-07-30T17:07:03Z")
Musk’s Hyperloop? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/18 "2022-07-31T03:54:41Z")
Everything you need is supposed to be within a 5 mintes’ walk. I guess if it’s outside of a five minute walk, you don’t need it. It will also have a high-speed rail system running along the length of the thing, for all your more-than-five-minutes’-walking-distance needs. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/19 "2022-07-31T04:38:55Z")
What’s the mirrored part for? Camouflage? Mirror industry jobs? Just to fuck with birds? Can you imagine coming up on this thing from outside? Bad enough that you have the desert sun on your back, now you have another one in your face. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749/20 "2022-07-31T05:14:00Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > What’s the mirrored part for? Is it just that the outside is mirrored to keep it cool? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arabias-the-line/968749.md?page=2)