Wow!

Whenever I think there’s a limit to the stupidity of ambition, someone makes plans to build a colossally idiotic building.
posted by Kattullus at 6:17 AM on July 27, 2022 [19 favorites]

I have a sinking feeling that, as our climate worsens, The Line will become the archetype for similar creations. I'm actually kind of surprised it isn't a full-up arcology.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:22 AM on July 27, 2022 [7 favorites]

this is some real Dahir Insaat-level concept work. maybe instead of cars they can have saucer trolleys

I am extremely skeptical that this will become more than some ruins in the desert, or maybe an ordinary city that grows organically out of what they tried to make at first
posted by Countess Elena at 6:24 AM on July 27, 2022 [7 favorites]

Theocratic Monarchy: At long last, we have created the Nightmare City from classic sci-fi novel Don't Build The Nightmare City
posted by theodolite at 6:41 AM on July 27, 2022 [46 favorites]

It's like the worst elements of a mall, cruise ship and corporate campus all wrapped into one massive shiny box. Key point, buried deep in the article: "...its high-tech approach seems to ignore people's desire to simply go outside, to experience something in a city that isn't man-made."
posted by bassomatic at 6:43 AM on July 27, 2022 [10 favorites]

We’ve forgotten that superstudio’s continuous monument was supposed to be satire. Great, great.
posted by q*ben at 6:44 AM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]

I like that this seemingly doomed urban development project FPP comes immediately after the FPP on the abandoned dead comatose-but-kept-alive-on-life-support city of Kitsault, BC. Is this like that potato craze on the blue a couple of weeks ago?

I can guess what the 2038 MetaFilter post about this place will be.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:45 AM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]

the world's biggest version of "the projects" - great idea - maybe saudi arabia can rent it out as a private prison
posted by pyramid termite at 6:49 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

Robot dinosaurs and artificial moon conspicuously absent from the new PR push.
posted by rodlymight at 6:51 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]

Residents will be able to run errands with a five-minute walk;

Or, y'know, get people who are effectively their slaves to do the errands for them.
posted by Grangousier at 6:58 AM on July 27, 2022 [9 favorites]

It would be better called Central Point of Failure. It’s a fascinating idea, but concentrating a mass of humanity in one point, even if it’s a line, means that large-scale problems will be magnified greatly. Food and water distribution will be vulnerable to attack and in a shooting war (tHaT CouLd NevEr HappEN In The MiddLe EaSt) it is one big convenient target.

Then there is the larger question of the laws and rules of Saudi Arabia. Establishment and enforcement are subject to the whims of the rulers. While no place in the world is entirely safe, things seem more precarious there than in other places, so that raises a big question mark.

This sounds like a giant loaf in the middle of a circus, so what are they trying to bury now?
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 6:59 AM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]

Is it going to be built by slaves on a foundation of dead reporters?
posted by CygnusXII at 7:08 AM on July 27, 2022 [10 favorites]

220 yards by 105 miles is approximately 13 square miles, which is (very) roughly equivalent to the area of Manhattan from 34th Street to 125th Street. But why take advantage of geometry to enable myriad axes of mobility when you can make Big Line and unnecessarily force everyone onto a high-speed train to go anywhere, lol.
posted by dusty potato at 7:21 AM on July 27, 2022 [8 favorites]

The marketing materials might refer to the area where this thing is supposed to be built as virgin land but of course people already live there.

The podcast Trashfuture has been on the NEOM beat for a while. The episode I was thinking of is behind a paywall but they touch on it in this free episode too. The relevant bit starts about 30 minutes in.
posted by GalaxieFiveHundred at 7:25 AM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]

I can guess what the 2038 MetaFilter post about this place will be.

After the tarantula wars? I wouldn't go in there with anything less than a camelotank division. Those sand-spiders aren't heavily armored, but there are a lot of them.
posted by adept256 at 7:26 AM on July 27, 2022 [7 favorites]

Oh my god, are they seriously still pushing for this? Previously on metafilter.

The dystopia of it all!
posted by Mizu at 7:26 AM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]

This concept fits the description of a futuristic industrial park, where movement of materials is a heavy expense. It is not a bad idea for a solar generating plant, or a giant farm with supplied water, or even a prison, in order to spread people out and contain them with a rapid response. All three perhaps.
posted by Brian B. at 7:27 AM on July 27, 2022

This is never going to get built of course but a vast army of architects and "futurists" absolutely can't believe their luck at being paid many hundreds of thousands a year to come up with this nonsense.
posted by atrazine at 7:28 AM on July 27, 2022 [10 favorites]

"Designing a city is no easy feat, but five products of 20th-century urban planning have achieved a level of greatness... What they have in common is their well-structured layout"

For some strange reason, none of them are arranged to increase the furthest travel distance by a factor of 50 or so.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 7:29 AM on July 27, 2022 [6 favorites]

Look upon my works, etc etc
posted by flabdablet at 7:34 AM on July 27, 2022 [6 favorites]

What the world needs right now is a large, newly built, Arab casbah.

Something with bright roofing to reflect the high sun, with narrow streets fronted by high buildings to keep everything shaded most of the time. Materials with high thermal inertia that will retain an appropriate amount of heat from the low sun in winter, whatever the appropriate amount is for the location.

With plumbing and sanitation built in, not retrofitted. And no glass walls anywhere. Parks and gardens built to be used by people, not just to look good in a miniature in the architect's lobby. And transportation infrastructure designed in from the get go. Enough wide roads for what residents actually need and no more.

The casbah should, like all casbahs, not be a 1 dimensional idiocy like this. Casbahs are 3d for a reason.
posted by ocschwar at 7:46 AM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]

why take advantage of geometry to enable myriad axes of mobility when you can make Big Line and unnecessarily force everyone onto a high-speed train to go anywhere, lol.

It works great for profitability in SimCity! 🏠🚅🏢
posted by tiny frying pan at 7:47 AM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]

Cities skyline is the new Simcity. Fuck EA, they ruined it.

I could spend days looking at wacky city ideas in that game. Of course they have tried linear cities. Here's one. Here's another.

They each deviate from the NOEM concept, because guess what? Turns out, it's not practical. Even in a game where you are god.
posted by adept256 at 7:58 AM on July 27, 2022 [6 favorites]

I bet it'll be really well designed to shut off access in either direction whenever they want to restrict movement or pin someone down. You can't run in one of four directions there.
posted by dowcrag at 7:59 AM on July 27, 2022 [5 favorites]

The only thing that can defeat this is Mechajanejacobs.
posted by condour75 at 8:02 AM on July 27, 2022 [15 favorites]

Say this thing gets built.

Assuming the entire complex / city has one central air and/or air circulation system, then I can see *no possible way that, that could go wrong*.

I mean it's not like the world is *still experiancing* a pandemic involving an airborne virus or anything..
posted by Faintdreams at 8:02 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

I am fairly sure this will never get built, but if it even gets started, then the logistics for water and waste management *alone* is going to be mind-boggling.
posted by Faintdreams at 8:03 AM on July 27, 2022 [6 favorites]

The promos look like trailers for a dystopian nightmare movie. Gattaca, maybe?
posted by kirkaracha at 8:08 AM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]

Are there animals whose migration patterns would be disrupted?
Where will they get fresh water?
posted by kirkaracha at 8:13 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]

(There is only one SimCity and it is SimCity "4", Rush Hour, for me! Disturbingly easy to profit if you make everyone take one rail line to their jobs, is what this reminded me of)
posted by tiny frying pan at 8:18 AM on July 27, 2022

It works great for profitability in SimCity! 🏠🚅🏢

Oh shit, I think you just cracked the case. MBS played SimCity and thinks he now knows everything about urban planning.
posted by rodlymight at 8:25 AM on July 27, 2022 [5 favorites]

The Kingdom is so rich and its rule so despotic that you can now make enough money to turn your family into a dynasty just by playing a temporary role in one of MBS's idiotic vanity projects. We don't know how much the various outside consultants on The Line are making, but the Saudi LIV Golf series is attracting pros by paying some individual golfers more than $100 million to participate.
posted by grobstein at 8:34 AM on July 27, 2022 [5 favorites]

Notably, the Saudis are also creating another city in the desert Qiddiya is being constructed to be the largest tourism destination in the world by 2030. A sort of DisneyWorld - - but big.
posted by rongorongo at 8:40 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

OMG, those promos kirkaracha linked are amazing. They just nail the vibe of utopian-marketing-within-dystopian-sci-fi perfectly. Just flawless. I'm getting notes of More, Dredd, Gattaca, Bladerunner, Starship Troopers, Bioshock, Fallout, ... Even the name is perfect for a dystopian novel or film. The Line. God, it's just perfect.

So here's hoping it's actually just an amazing ARG leading to a new combined Apple TV prestige series + PS5 exclusive story-driven survival/crafting/puzzle/mystery RPG set in the city right at the moment of collapse. (Cuz if it isn't, we'll have to wait longer until those come out based on the actual city...)
posted by whatnotever at 8:42 AM on July 27, 2022 [8 favorites]

It's more than $100 million, it may also come with a ban from playing in the US open.
posted by adept256 at 8:43 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

The "AI will provide autonomous services" thing is the cherry on top as a setup for "battle your way through a failed attempt at utopia" video game.
posted by microscone at 8:48 AM on July 27, 2022 [9 favorites]

What if arcology, but terrible?
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 8:51 AM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]

I'm gonna use this as the central megadungeon for a post-apocalypse fantasy setting. The promo videos will make for a fantastic, ironic intro to the world.
posted by charred husk at 8:51 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the man with the money - that's Mr. Bone Saw who likely ordered the torture, murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. This city obviously isn't going to work, but he is a particularly appalling figure. I would not feel especially secure in any high tech no-exit city but I would feel even less secure in one designed at his behest.
posted by Frowner at 8:53 AM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]

And who would build this thing? Enslaved migrants, likely, who will die in their hundreds, no sign to mark where.
posted by Frowner at 8:54 AM on July 27, 2022 [6 favorites]

(Qiddiyah promo video) ‘look on my works, you mighty, and despair’
posted by rongorongo at 9:02 AM on July 27, 2022

I was trying to find a map because I had an idea about a linear accelerator and wanted to see if this thing is pointed at Israel. Found this site, scroll down.

NEOM will feature thе futurе Kіng Sаlmаn Bridge, соnnесtіng the city, which іѕ expected tо bесоmе 33 tіmеѕ bіggеr thаn New Yоrk, wіth Egypt аnd, by еxtеnѕіоn, аll оf Afrіса.

This is a child's idea. This reminds me of Trump's wall. It's a kindergarten level solution to a non-problem. Wanna go to Africa? Build a bridge across the sea!

By the way, if this thing runs north-south, Israel is absolutely in the firing line.
posted by adept256 at 9:10 AM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]

So people like to go outside? No one has mentioned yet what the outside of this linear idiocy is… A highly reflective mirror! And in a place with blazing sun all the time. Go outside, be blinded, catch on fire, straighten your hair, check your makeup… I must confess, that if Metafilter is your daily reading, then your opinion of human reason probably is so low as to be unmeasurable.
posted by njohnson23 at 9:11 AM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]

Don't worry about the mirror walls, they'll just fix that in the renders.
posted by feloniousmonk at 9:13 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]

They're renaming this The Line? As in Spec Ops: The Line, the cult classic 3rd person shooter video game about the horrors of war set in... an uninhabitable sandstorm-ravaged desert metropolis?
posted by Superilla at 9:17 AM on July 27, 2022 [12 favorites]

The link is a stellar example of Betteridge's law of headlines:
"A 105-mile-long city will snake through the Saudi desert. Is that a good idea?"
posted by shenkerism at 9:26 AM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]

What? Why is it verdant when it is in the middle of the desert? It magically gets precipitation because it is tall? Or? WTF? Where is the water coming from?
posted by Don Pepino at 9:30 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

The Line: Because what if Ponte City was 100,000 times bigger! And not round.
posted by bassomatic at 9:32 AM on July 27, 2022

I like this sort of thing better when it‘s part of an Iain M. Banks novel.
posted by mbrubeck at 10:02 AM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]

You can't cut back on basic human rights! You will regret this!
posted by Servo5678 at 10:34 AM on July 27, 2022 [8 favorites]

So people like to go outside? No one has mentioned yet what the outside of this linear idiocy is… A highly reflective mirror! And in a place with blazing sun all the time.

The outside is inside. There is no need to leave The Line. All you need is inside The Line.

which іѕ expected tо bесоmе 33 tіmеѕ bіggеr thаn New Yоrk

I'm confused by the philosophical conflict between the sprawling megalomaniacal complex that's 33 times larger than New York (City, I assume) and the long, skinny megalomaniacal complex that's almost twice as long as the Panama Canal. Are we spreading out or going skinny?

(Qiddiyah promo video ) ‘look on my works, you mighty, and despair’

How much water will it take for all those trees, and where would they get it? Saudi Arabia is one of the most water-scarce nations on the planet, and the Red Sea and Persian Gulf are both salt water.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:45 AM on July 27, 2022

And who would build this thing? Enslaved migrants, likely, who will die in their hundreds, no sign to mark where.

"Thе рrоjесt [NEOM], whісh MBS ѕtаtеd will be buіlt bу 'реорlе who live іn thе dеѕеrt' whо роѕѕеѕѕ 'соlоѕѕаl wіll, dеtеrmіnаtіоn and drіvе,' wіll bе a part оf a nеw Saudi frаmеwоrk."

"Cоlоѕѕаl wіll, dеtеrmіnаtіоn and drіvе": Don't bone saw me, bro!

NEOM will feature thе futurе Kіng Sаlmаn Bridge, соnnесtіng the city, which іѕ expected tо bесоmе 33 tіmеѕ bіggеr thаn New Yоrk, wіth Egypt аnd, by еxtеnѕіоn, аll оf Afrіса.

Proposed Saudi–Egypt Causeway
posted by kirkaracha at 10:52 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

Fingers crossed that one upside of our nascent global economic recession is that it will dump a bucket of cold water on the Age of Scams. If the capitalists have to tighten their belts, incredibly stupid ideas like this—which will obviously never happen—will get less traction.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 11:07 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

Hmm. Will there be city animals? Insects? Seems like they'll have to intentionally include pollinators if they want flowers, and a parkforest without any animalia but humans sounds creepy af, unnerving in that way you don't notice until you do.
posted by Grim Fridge at 11:11 AM on July 27, 2022

I'm not sure if anyone else has linked this: The Most Fundamentally Flawed City. The takeaway is that because of efficiencies, cities want to be round, and will naturally grow in that direction as much as geology allows.

For a super-planned desert city, Masdar City seems to make a lot more sense, brought up in a 'previously' link.
posted by eye of newt at 11:14 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

> You can't cut back on basic human rights! You will regret this!

I am angry. ANGRY ABOUT ARCOLOGIES
posted by genpfault at 11:15 AM on July 27, 2022

For all of you laughing at this idea, I ask you: how could it be a ridiculous waste of money if it's being planned by obscenely rich people? Rich people are smart and not ridiculous, otherwise how would they have gotten rich?
posted by AlSweigart at 11:23 AM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]

TROJENA looks interesting. It doesn't really snow in Saudi Arabia, so if they want outdoor skiing I assume the plan is to have lots of snow making machines. Ski resorts in the Lake Tahoe region sometimes do that if weather doesn't oblige, so I guess it is possible.
posted by eye of newt at 11:43 AM on July 27, 2022

To support construction of The Line, two smaller spherical cities will be built at its western end. To protect them from the harsh environment, they will be enclosed by a massive, next-generation textile shroud. Saudi authorities expect work on The Sack to begin by early 2023.
posted by phooky at 11:54 AM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]

I'll wait for the zombie movie.
posted by Comfy Shoes at 12:14 PM on July 27, 2022

i wonder if mcmansion hell would be willing to branch out...
posted by Clowder of bats at 12:19 PM on July 27, 2022

another part of Neom that will also definitely be built: TROJENA

WTF was that?

Anyway, the most famous linear city vision was by Russian constructivist Ivan Leonidov. There were several before that, but Leonidov in particular captured the imagination of architects for generations to come.

Copenhagen was mentioned favorably in one of the links above, but apart from our wonderful and very robust "finger plan", we also have the ridiculous and not robust Ørestad that was directly inspired by the Leodinov plan. This is a very long story, but I'll cut it short. It's stupid for all the reasons mentioned above plus more, even when it is not in a desert but in very short distance from the center of Copenhagen. It's like anti-Copenhagen. I can't even begin to imagine how stupid it would be in KSA.

I have a lot more to say but I can feel I'm getting too angry, I'll have to sleep on this.
posted by mumimor at 12:25 PM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

TROJENA

Aren't architects kind of famous for not knowing what the word "unbuildable" means?
posted by rhizome at 12:28 PM on July 27, 2022

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 1. Dinocrates the architect, relying on the powers of his skill and ingenuity, whilst Alexander was in the midst of his conquests, set out from Macedonia to the army, desirous of gaining the commendation of his sovereign. That his introduction to the royal presence might be facilitated, he obtained letters from his countrymen and relations to men of the first rank and nobility about the king's person; by whom being kindly received, he besought them to take the earliest opportunity of accomplishing his wish. They promised fairly, but were slow in performing; waiting, as they alleged, for a proper occasion. Thinking, however, they deferred this without just grounds, he took his own course for the object he had in view. He was, I should state, a man of tall stature, pleasing countenance, and altogether of dignified appearance. Trusting to the gifts with which nature had thus endowed him, he put off his ordinary clothing, and having anointed himself with oil, crowned his head with a wreath of poplar, slung a lion's skin across his left shoulder, and carrying a large club in his right hand, he sallied forth to the royal tribunal, at a period when the king was dispensing justice.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 2. The novelty of his appearance excited the attention of the people; and Alexander soon discovering, with astonishment, the object of their curiosity, ordered the crowd to make way for him, and demanded to know who he was. "A Macedonian architect," replied Dinocrates, "who suggests schemes and designs worthy your royal renown. I propose to form Mount Athos into the statue of a man holding a spacious city in his left hand, and in his right a huge cup, into which shall be collected all the streams of the mountain, which shall then be poured into the sea."​a

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 3. Alexander, delighted at the proposition, made immediate inquiry if the soil of the neighbourhood were of a quality capable of yielding sufficient produce for such a state. When, however, he found that all its supplies must be furnished by sea, he thus addressed Dinocrates: "I admire the grand outline of your scheme, and am well pleased with it: but I am of opinion he would be much to blame who planted a colony on such a spot. For as an infant is nourished by the milk of its mother, depending thereon for its progress to maturity, so a city depends on the fertility of the country surrounding it for its riches, its strength in population, and not less for its defence against an enemy. Though your plan might be carried into execution, yet I think it impolitic. I nevertheless request your attendance on me, that I may otherwise avail myself of your ingenuity."

From de Architectura, Book II, by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (about year 80 as far as I remember)
posted by mumimor at 12:36 PM on July 27, 2022 [8 favorites]

How well will that "elegant" mirrored exterior do after a few sandstorms?

The description is of several different neighborhoods...so will those be divided by income? I'm guessing yes, it'll be a Ba Sing Se setup. Maybe the poorer ones will be the end in the desert, rich ones have ocean views and access.
posted by emjaybee at 12:48 PM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]

And who would build this thing? Enslaved migrants, likely, who will die in their hundreds, no sign to mark where.

This, but you may be low by an order of magnitude. Something like 7,000 migrant workers have died building stadiums and infrastructure for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar. I'm willing to go out on a limb and guess that many more would die building a city of 9 million.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:39 PM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]

The Saudi government should spend that 200 billion on planting trees all over the world. And expanding solar. Then we'd have a fighting chance.

Honestly I think the design looks cool and tickles my geek side nicely, but the practical side of me knows it's wholly inappropriate for actual humans to actually live there.
posted by zardoz at 1:48 PM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

Every morning I wake up and find that the world has slid another inch towards being a proto-Caves of Steel universe. We have proto-spacers trying to get off the planet, we have proto-Three Laws Compliant robots*, and now we have someone trying to build an actual Cave of Steel.

*Ha, ha, just kidding. They are actually proto-murderbots.
posted by eckeric at 2:10 PM on July 27, 2022

Oh my god, are they seriously still pushing for this?

I felt a little crazy seeing all of this popping up again. I got so tired of the garbage the first time around that whatistheline, NEOM and a bunch of other connected phrases were one of my first big “mute all this shit” sprees on Twitter, along with blocking as many possible ad accounts as I could find.

It’s a terrible idea that is only out in the world because of obscene wealth held by a kleptocracy. If it ever becomes a reality, it will only do so because no one was able to convince that obscene wealth to instead back some other, actually useful concept. If and when it becomes a reality, who in their right mind would live there?

The world is already filled with absurdly expensive gimmick homes for the ultra-wealthy, and a very large number of those are unoccupied, either because they were bought as tax dodges (cough, cough, most of those absurd new towers in New York are empty), or because no one actually bought them at all (evidently a large amount of Dubai’s manufactured islands are unsold or essentially abandoned).

So, what, is the plan to just force people to live there? Is this going to be a tenement for the regular folk? What happens to their jobs in other cities? Where is the space in this monstrosity for offices and factories where people will work? How do you make a self contained city without accounting for the work people will need to do to sustain themselves and earn a living?

If you put two or three urban planners in a room for fifteen minutes, they could come up with a long, long list of all the reasons this is ridiculous. However, more than likely, the wealth involved would just have them killed rather than listen to anything they have to say.

We’re well into point of wealth inequality where there exist people who actually have “fuck you money” and are able to use it to reshape the world how they see fit. The problem, as always, is that wealth does not equal intelligence, skill, or any kind of moral understanding of the world. The problems this money that will be spent on this future news report about a humanitarian crisis could solve are too many to count. But hey, some huckster managed to catch some oil baron’s ear, and here we are, stuck hearing about this bullshit again.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:35 PM on July 27, 2022 [5 favorites]

As others have noted or hinted this is a really good design for a planned city if you want to be able to quickly quell any large scale dissent or social unrest.

Or as adept256 noted, it's a great way to hide the construction of a really massive rail gun.
posted by loquacious at 6:23 PM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

This new Crash Bandicoot game is going to be amazing.
posted by Literaryhero at 6:36 PM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]

Immediately reminded of the failed Dubai mega-projects bonehead mentioned in the original thread.
posted by Rash at 6:47 PM on July 27, 2022

My wife just made me laugh really hard. “Takes a mirror that big to reflect that kind of ego.”
posted by Revvy at 8:49 PM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]

The Saudi government should spend that 200 billion on planting trees all over the world

The best part, like really the best part is that they DO spend piles of money planting trees, which they then post armed guards to stop anyone from watering!

They literally plant trees for the PR, and then force them to die because their continued existence is inconvenient to the point that they won’t allow immigrant workers to water them on their own inadequate pay!

…and Western news outlets fall for it! Again and again! Chinese outlets don’t exactly fall for it, but they report that they do fall for it.

Ha! Ha ha! Ha ha HA hA! It’s so hilarious I’m afraid it might break me! Billions of trees, none of which will last more than a year! HAHAHAhA!
posted by aramaic at 9:09 PM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]

aramaic, do you have a link? This interests me a lot.
posted by mumimor at 11:33 PM on July 27, 2022

Did Soleri even in his fever dreams ever propose something remotely this absurd? I thought part of the point of arcologies was to like, account for the city as part of an ecology, not create a fucking linear biodome.
posted by aspersioncast at 6:16 AM on July 28, 2022

MIRRORS. Mirrors orthogonal to the ground. What the actual fuck.
posted by aspersioncast at 6:19 AM on July 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

do you have a link?

Not for the KSA plantings -- I have people on Aramco contracts in my extended family, so this is just dinner-table conversation, and the planting projects are ongoing publicity toys for Mister Bone-Saw so ... if you value the continued attachment of your various body parts you neither take photos nor even really look in that direction while you're in-country, and then just chuckle about it once you're safely back in India.

For other Gulf states, (less likely to disappear you for being mildly inconvenient) sure.
posted by aramaic at 7:56 AM on July 28, 2022 [5 favorites]

I have on occasion fantasized about a city that was like the Line, but...

1. break it up into smaller segments
2. arrange the segments into a honeycomb pattern
3. service each hexagon in the honeycomb with pairs of counter-circulating trains
4. within each hexagon you can stick very large facilities that might otherwise fit poorly, farms, or just leave it wild save for inter-hex train tunnels
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 11:27 AM on July 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Full credit to whoever chose the music for The Line's insipid promotional YouTube video for making it finish on the line "what a wonderful world" sung in a voice that just drips ennui and fatigue and hopelessness.
posted by flabdablet at 4:53 AM on July 29, 2022