THE LINE is being designed to address many problems cities face, from congestion to circular use of resources.Credit: NEOM
NEOM, an extensive development project underway in Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk province, aims to build a fully sustainable society.
“We hope to demonstrate to the world how true sustainable living can be achieved,” says Richard Bush, NEOM’s chief environmental officer.
The region will be powered by 100% renewable energy, eschewing private cars in favour of a shared transport network. Its development will take up only 5% of the region’s land, preserving the remaining 95% as biodiverse ecosystems.
There are plans to sensitively regreen the desert, bringing back indigenous plants and wildlife that once flourished in the Kingdom.
“Our environmental scientists recently found the Sinai primrose (Primula boveana) growing in Trojena; it was thought to be functionally extinct in the wild,” says Bush. “We have strict regulations for all our developments to offset changes from construction and produce positive biodiversity gains for the region.”
Forging a circular economy
Waste systems at NEOM will be circular, designed to function without impact on the environment. Waste water will be treated and reused. NEOM’s scientists are also working with technology providers to explore the extraction of valuable products such as salts, minerals and metals from brine.
Following Saudi Arabia’s G20 presidency in 2020, the nation committed to developing a circular carbon economy based on the ‘four Rs’ of carbon management—reduce, remove, recycle and reuse. NEOM’s goals are aligned to this national programme.
“We’re seeking to combine the best options available now rather than waiting for perfect solutions,” says Donal Bradley, executive director of NEOM’s Education, Research and Innovation Foundation.
Scientists working with the foundation’s flagship Applied Research Institutes will investigate many aspects of sustainable living and the circular economy, including the use of captured CO2 to synthesize sustainable fuels, reducing the energy demand for displays, lighting and consumer electronics, and harnessing natural solutions for storing CO2 , such as mangroves and sea grass meadows. Microalgae will be grown at scale for numerous applications, including biofuels and biotechnology.
“Plastics are another challenge,” says Bradley. “These materials contributed positively to global development for many decades, but the throw-away culture that built up around them is highly problematic. They are a potentially useful carbon source for the future, but we need to become better equipped to recycle them.”
Lining up a new way to live
THE LINE is NEOM’s pioneering cognitive city, which will be 200 metres wide, 500 metres above sea level and — eventually — 170 kilometres long. The goal is to avoid significant problems that cities face: sprawl, congestion and increasingly disconnected communities.
“We’re reimagining every feature of how a city is managed,” says Bush. “We’re working closely with supply chains to transform how goods are used and transported. These insights will have applications far beyond NEOM.”
Residents of THE LINE will be pioneers, exploring a new mode of urban living. “It’s vital to go beyond technology and understand the sociological and psychological aspects of what constitutes a liveable space, so that people enjoy living there,” says Bradley. NEOM’s researchers will also focus on human health and well-being to reduce demand on health-care services, reflecting the project’s goal to build circular sustainability into every layer of daily life.
“Our purpose”, says Bush, “is to inspire change across all aspects of society.”
