The shrinking scale of Saudi Arabia's mirrored desert megacity

Once envisioned as a 170km marvel for 9 million people, the ambitious 'The Line' project is facing a massive reduction in scope. This video examines the recent scaling back of Saudi Arabia's Neom ambitions.

The Line, a central component of the Neom project, was originally designed to be a 170km long, 500m tall mirrored city. However, recent reports from Bloomberg indicate that the Saudi government has scaled back its medium-term ambitions for the project.

The population targets have seen a dramatic shift: while the government initially hoped for 9 million residents by 2030, the new projections suggest fewer than 300,000. This contraction includes a reduction in the city's length to just 2.4km. These changes come amid reports that the 2024 budget for Neom has not yet been approved.

Source: Neom - The Line - The Rise and Fall of Saudi Arabia's Linear City.