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I did a search and this was posted a few weeks ago, but its so 'out there' that the conversation quickly diverted to comic film/superheros/marvel stuff with many not realising it appears to be a serious proposition!
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So, how does a car free, green, 170km long mirrored city with 20 minute end-to-end high speed rail, walkable neighbourhoods and 5 minutes to the great outdoors sound? (oh, and its at 500m elevation in Saudi Arabia)
Is it an investment scam? Will it ever be built? Will it become a ghost city, exclusive to the rich, or become deprived and crime ridden?
Interestingly, in one of the videos in the 'invest' section, which might be by Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, they express how polluted the world is and how many people will be displaced due to sea levels etc...one of the greatest oil producing nations on earth going green?!
www.neom.com
Dunno if it's serious but they've spent a lot of cash on twitter ads in the past couple of weeks as every time I picked up my phone there it was.
one of the greatest oil producing nations on earth going green?!
Oil is finite, as is, in the future, their oil buying customer base. Those with any sense will be looking to the future and how to continue their wealth.
Starting with lots of money and lots of land puts them in a good position.
This is a modern futuristic city in the same country that executes teenagers for giving out bottles of water at a protest?
Beneath contempt.
As usual with Saudi it's a vanity project for Mohammed Bin Salman to divert attention away from their appalling human rights record. See the Public Investment Fund, LIV Golf, and endless Aramco sponsorship of F1 for prime examples.
170km with a 20min journey time, I’m guessing the mid station stops are on the exciting side of things.
I think it might be personal transport style, so you'd have a pod that goes where you want. I first saw it on a youtube ad, it was quite a long ad, getting towards two minutes and it was so 'out there' that I actually watched it all despite being right in the middle of a [s]cats being sill[/s] artisan boat building video
170km with a 20min journey time, I’m guessing the mid station stops are on the exciting side of things.
300(ish) mph so that's well within current maglev capabilities.
It's kind of intriguing but I can also see it as some sort of wildly dystopian hideout for billionaires once the planet is on fire...
Like an earthbound version of Wall-E.
It’s kind of intriguing but I can also see it as some sort of wildly dystopian hideout for billionaires once the planet is on fire…
My thoughts exactly...it's like ****ing Snowpiercer!
Various recruiters have been attempting to entice professional services specialists to support this for at least 12 months.
Package values have been on a downward trend since the first adverts appeared.
It's an undeliverable vanity project.
What will the trails be like?
170km long horizontal city built across a desert?
Sort of reminds me of the Matt Damon film Elysium only the space station has been unrolled out on the ground.
This guy calls bullshit & is usually spot on.
On a related note, has anybody seen the videos of the never-inhabited Chinese cities being demolished?
This guy calls bullshit & is usually spot on.
Maybe, maybe not, his presenting style is crap though. I made it to 6 minutes before I gave up.
Sort of reminds me of the Matt Damon film Elysium only the space station has been unrolled out on the ground.
See also...
It’s kind of intriguing but I can also see it as some sort of wildly dystopian hideout for billionaires once the planet is on fire…
All these billionaires must be looking around at the state of the world and getting nervous. They know there's no other planets to escape to and moving to Mars is still a fantasy. They're going to build their futuristic citadels on the ground and we won't be invited.
its definitely a vanity project, but I wouldn't say its undeliverable. If you've been to saudi you'll have seen the massive amounts of infra they're happy to spend money on. They're opening the biggest hotel in the world, built a new F1 circuit from scratch, and generally piling oil money into whatever they think will last.
If anyone can do it, those guys have the money and the desire to do it.
I saw this the other day, the whole concept and funding streams behind it can GTF. If that is the way the world is going I don't want any part of it. It's all getting a bit too 2000AD....
It's basically Mega-city 1 on Keto.
What could possibly go wrong?
This crazy idea has been around for a good while. Quite apart from being pie in the sky, it also looks horrific - basically a massive great long high rise tower block.
Is it an investment scam? Will it ever be built?
Probably both ....
Will it become a ghost city, exclusive to the rich,
All Saudi's are rich, anyone not rich in Saudi is not a Saudi and hence not a person under Saudi law.
or become deprived and crime ridden?
Define crime? From an international perspective or internal Saudi law perspective?
With a state with a human rights record like Saudi you need to be specific.
If you mean theft etc. then nope, cutting people's hands off and executions mean recidivists are unlikely to reoffend.
Will it become a ghost city, exclusive to the rich,
The poor will be allowed. They'll be in a commune at the far end and their day jobs will be catering to all the billionaires.
Have you ever seen those programmes about the obscenely lavish OTT hotels? Where armies of underlings exist solely to cater for every whim of the guests.
There was one woman on one of these shows who seemed proud that she was available 24/7 to rustle up whatever wild fantasy a guest had.
Want 12 black swans swimming on the lake outside your hotel room by 7am? She would sort it.
Want a particular model of Aston Martin for a midnight drive into the desert? It'd be there.
It was just obscene OTT displays of wealth and privilege and these minions existed to deliver that. It'll be the only way any of us stand a chance of getting near the place.
Blimey, I thought they just did fancy candles and bubble bath
What will the trails be like?
If they had nice trails I'd happily live there TBH. Bike park out in the desert? probably only want to go out at dawn or dusk though.
Maybe in a few years there'll be a Walmart funded one, they are quite into bikes.
170km with a 20min journey time, I’m guessing the mid station stops are on the exciting side of things.
300(ish) mph so that’s well within current maglev capabilities.
Yeah but there would have to be stops - there's no point in a rail link from one end of the city to the other end. So, allow, let's say a conservative 3 stops partway, and they need to be for long enough that people can get off and on, and to their seats and luggage stowed ready for the 0-300+mph in a few seconds adrenaline ride. There'll be lots of dishevelled looking millionaires staggering off the train. 😀
They’re going to build their futuristic citadels on the ground and we won’t be invited.
New Zealand is apparently popular for that sort of thing.
This can’t be anything other than a vanity project for bin Salman. I wonder if his advisors are too terrified to tell him it’s a shit idea?