THE LINE: Human-centric and eco-friendly

Increasing the quality of life is one of the key objectives of Saudi Vision 2030, through several axes focusing on humans and their surrounding environment, to create a living space that is conducive to health, safety and sustainable living. Such an environment ensures better livelihoods, greater productivity, and efficient service provision while protecting the environment and reducing pollution levels. Increasing the quality of life requires action through two parallel tracks: developing existing cities and creating new ones.

For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

Saudi Arabia’s new project ‘THE LINE,’ announced by His Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on January 10, is the Kingdom's latest step towards improved quality of life, through not only establishing cities with a local character, but global models that run on artificial intelligence, fulfil the needs of humans in the future, and avoid many of the problems of post-Industrial Revolution metropolises.

“The project will be a revolution for mankind, a great leap in the field of nature preservation thanks to its environmentally friendly features,” Prince Mohammed bin Salman said while announcing plans for ‘THE LINE,’ promising that clean energy would be the cornerstone of the city. The zero-carbon design means fresh air and fewer respiratory and pollution-related health problems.

The project is designed to preserve 95 percent of the local environment, with ultra-modern construction, high-speed mobility, and unparalleled services for the city's residents, who are expected to reach 1 million by 2030. These goals are no easy feat, especially as this style of city is entirely new to local and even global cultures.

With this project, Saudi Arabia presents a model that reflects and exceeds environmentalists’ recommendations, because it not only protects the environment, but also develops it, granting equal importance to nature and humans. The environment is not just a space for living that provides resources for human consumption, but rather, a vital space that nourishes and sustains humans and is therefore an inseparable part of them.

‘THE LINE,’ one of the projects of the $500 billion futuristic hub Neom, has another particularity as the parent company is managed by Saudis; Engineer Nazmi al-Nasr is the CEO of the Neom City project, with the support and confidence of the Chairman, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

For Saudi expertise to be the face of such a landmark global project sends a clear message that development is a process stemming from Saudi society itself with strong support from the leadership, and that Saudi talents are capable of greatness if given the opportunity and means. This is precisely what Vision 2030 has provided.

This article was originally published in, and translated from, Saudi Arabian outlet al-Riyadh.

Read more:

The city of the future and the prince of hope

Saudi Arabia's revolutionary modernization journey

Riyadh’s call: The opportunities of the new century