(EPISODE IN ENGLISH)

As part of the NEOM settlement project, Saudi Arabia began construction work on, what is called "THE LINE" in November 2021.

Once finished the 170km long, 200m wide and 500m high city shall provide housing for 9 million people. 

„The future of urban living“ is a promise of wealth, equality and prosperity in a complete carbon neutral community at an estimated cost of 500 billion dollars. 

The mathematician Rafael Prieto-Curiel, a PhD graduate from University College London who works for the Complexity Science Hub Vienna has his doubts about that.

In a detailed paper, he analyzed the project in terms of mobility, efficiency and general quality of life.

An intercontinental conversation about average commuting times within THE LINE, on the merits of a circular arrangement, the emergency resilience of the project, why public transport is key and how a city, build from scratch can be called carbon neutral once the emissions of the construction process have been taken into account.

Episode Links

Rafaels Homepage:

https://rafaelprietocuriel.com

article on the website of the Complexity Science Hub:

https://www.csh.ac.at/why-saudi-arabias-the-line-is-not-a-revolution-in-urban-living/

The NEOM project:

https://www.neom.com

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