Listening

= Presenter, FB = Fazia Bashir
P: Some two and a half thousand years ago, Socrates said that ‘by far the greatest and most admirable form of wisdom is that needed to plan and beautify cities and human communities’. Town planners have been dreaming up ideas for the perfect city environment probably ever since the first towns appeared. And now and then, those admirable men and women get the chance to start from scratch and try and make dreams a reality.

Think St Petersburg, Brasilia, or – on a smaller scale – Milton Keynes in the UK. Well, the latest of such visionary projects is Neom in Saudi Arabia, also known as 'The Line'. Neom will initially house 500,000 people in the first modules, to be built over the next few years, but will eventually be extended to two continuous 500-metre-high blocks up to 170 kilometres long, cutting through mountains and desert and ending in the Red Sea.

The design has called upon a host of international experts in design and architecture and aims to be a model of sustainability. The building work is projected to be completed by 2030 at a cost of $500 billion dollars and the population is expected to have reached nine million by 2045. Here to discuss the plan and whether it can possibly live up to these sky-high expectations is the architectural journalist, Faiza Bashir.

FB: Hi. Pleasure to be here.
P: So Faiza, could you perhaps just start by explaining a bit more about the Line and the ideas behind it?

P = Presenter, FB = Fazia Bashir
FB: So, for context, Neom is one of several projects Saudi Arabia is pumping money into, preparing for a post-oil economy. As such, it’s intended to be a beacon for international business on the one hand, and on the other a model of an emissions-free city where citizens can get everything they need within a short walk.

P: And how is that envisaged?
FB: Well firstly, they’ll harness innovative technology and renewable energy to power the city. And secondly, there won’t be any roads – just two hundred metres of gardens and walkways between the two blocks with amenities and housing arranged at different levels.

P: I see, so how will people get out of the city?
FB: The plan is for an underground high-speed link that’ll travel the length of the line in twenty minutes – give or take.

P: Wow! Is that possible?
FB: Yeah, I mean, the Shanghai Maglev, which is currently the fastest train, reaches speeds of four hundred and sixty kilometres per hour, so it’s within the bounds of what’s already possible. There are certainly bigger hurdles to overcome than that.

P: Really? I did wonder about issues such as controlling heat in the desert and how sunlight penetrates the lower levels of the city.
FB: Well, yes, absolutely. These are massive challenges, and I think that’s reflected in the spiralling budget, which is set to rise to nearer a trillion dollars.

P: Wow!
FB: Yeah, and the completion date looks likely to be pushed back to nearer 2050.

P: It is a massive undertaking.
FB: Absolutely. And to give it credit, I think these kind of moonshot projects can be incredible drivers of innovation. I know they’re already making major advances in water desalination to provide drinking water from the sea for a whole city, and no doubt there’ll be other breakthroughs. But you know, technology can’t guarantee the perfect environment they envisage.

P: Why not?
FB: Because cities are complex organic entities, peopled by complex communities, and subject to the complexity of the natural world. They take on a life of their own.

P: OK, just explain that a little more.
FB: Well, for example, cities grow, and successful cities grow faster, but how? Well, they tend to attract newcomers with limited resources who are seeking their fortune, so to speak. So their options are either to cram into existing houses and areas which were not built to sustain so many people, or otherwise they set up new informal settlements wherever they can, which then need facilities like sewage and recycling plants. Where will those be in Neom? Who’s going to live next to them?

P: I see – can’t you plan for that growth?
FB: To some extent. But everything’s subject to change. For example, you need jobs for inhabitants. OK, initial plans may provide that, but then new industries emerge, that require a factory or office or some other change to the city space. At the same time, industries that were expected to provide thousands of jobs can fail, leaving derelict buildings and unemployment, which in turn hits local services and leads to migration out. I mean think of  Detroit – a booming city in the 70s, built on the car industry, but as that industry declined, its population shrank and by 2013 it was bankrupt.

P: Isn’t it recovering now though?
FB: Well, the decline has certainly been halted, but the point is, cities’ fortunes naturally rise and fall. And some say it’s better to let that happen naturally through gentrification rather than imposing plans top-down. Basically, people eventually will repopulate and restore neglected areas because they’re being priced out of smarter neighbourhoods. They settle, start families, demand new facilities for kids and secure funding to, say, clean up a park or commission public art to celebrate their
community …

P: That’s interesting, because parks and art might seem peripheral elements of good cities, but  when I think about where I live, there was a little park at the end of our road, which was quite run down and underused, but then some community
activists got together and campaigned to get it renovated – and now it’s somewhere we’re really proud of.
FB: Exactly.

P: But are you saying urban planners should take a back seat?
FB: Not at all – probably your local activists were in consultation with planners, and as urban populations are set to grow, we’ll be needing their wisdom even more. Nor does it mean that Neom won’t eventually thrive – just don’t be surprised if unexpected issues arise along the way.