The Line, NEOM Case Study: What Was Planned, Built and Scaled Back

The Line is a linear city announced by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on 10 January 2021, as part of NEOM in the country's northwest. The 2022 design showed two parallel mirrored walls, 170 km long, about 200 m apart and 500 m high, for nine million people. By November 2026 the reported first segment was about 2.5 km long, its foundations were the main visible work, and press reports said further work had been put off until after 2030. This case study separates what was announced, what has been reported as built, and how the plan has changed.

The Line at a glance

Promoter and client: NEOM Company, part of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF); Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman chairs NEOM's board (NEOM press release, 10 January 2021).
Designer: Morphosis, as reported by Dezeen (2022) though not officially announced; Building Design (2025) says it left the project in 2024.
Location: NEOM, northwest Saudi Arabia, from the Red Sea coast inland.
Announced: 10 January 2021; designs shown 25 July 2022.
Planned size (2022): 170 km long, 200 m wide, 500 m high, 34 km² footprint, nine million residents (The National, 25 July 2022).
Status (11 November 2026): unfinished. Foundations reported on a first segment of about 2.5 km; work reported halted until after 2030 (Semafor, May 2026).
Open to visit: no.

Figures changed often between 2021 and 2026, so each is dated. No part of The Line is complete and we use no satellite images or NEOM renders, so this post uses MOA's schematic diagrams only, drawn from published descriptions.

The brief and who planned it

NEOM's launch release of 10 January 2021 described The Line as "a 170km belt of hyper-connected future communities, without cars and roads and built around nature". It promised a city of a million residents that would keep 95% of nature within NEOM, with "zero cars, zero streets and zero carbon emissions", all daily services within a five-minute walk, no journey longer than 20 minutes, and 100% clean energy. Construction, it said, would start in the first quarter of 2021.

The Crown Prince framed it as an answer to commuting, pollution and road deaths: "Why should we sacrifice nature for the sake of development?" Dezeen's launch report (Cajsa Carlson, 13 January 2021) described three layers: a pedestrian layer at ground level, a service layer below it and a "spine" layer for transport underneath.

The 2021 announcement showed no buildings. The architecture arrived on 25 July 2022, when the Crown Prince presented designs in which the city became two parallel walls. The National reported the new figures: 170 km long, 200 m wide, 500 m above sea level, built on 34 km², for nine million residents, with high-speed rail giving an end-to-end trip of 20 minutes (Mariam Nihal, The National).

The site

NEOM's 2021 release describes NEOM as a region in northwest Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea. Allan and Parida describe The Line extending 170 km inland, and Dezeen's 2022 report has it stretching across northwest Saudi Arabia (Tom Ravenscroft, 26 July 2022). The land was also lived on: members of the Huwaitat (or Howeitat) tribe lived in villages on the route (see Reception). NEOM's own maps and renders are on NEOM's page for The Line.

The Line NEOM concept: the plan idea

A linear city is an old idea. Andrew Allan and Subha Parida of the University of South Australia trace it to the Spanish planner Arturo Soria y Mata, who developed a "linear city" concept in 1882 to bring town and country together along a transport line (The Conversation, 14 September 2022). The Line keeps the transport spine but changes the section: instead of a ribbon of low buildings along a railway, it stacks the city inside a narrow, very tall slot.

NEOM called this "Zero Gravity Urbanism", in which city functions are layered vertically. Tarek Qaddumi, NEOM's executive director for urban planning, told Dezeen the design "reduces the city's footprint to two per cent of that of London for a similar population", and that The Line would be "self-shading", with natural ventilation to cool its public spaces (Lizzie Crook, Dezeen, 11 August 2022). He said the mirrored facades would use bird-safe glazing.

Schematic cross-section of The Line as published. Two tall grey walls about 200 m apart rise 500 m from the ground, each with a dark red mirrored outer face. Pale red bridging floors span the open space between them, labelled homes, work, parks and services stacked in layers, called Zero Gravity Urbanism by NEOM in 2022. A label at ground level reads pedestrian layer, daily needs within a five-minute walk and no cars or streets. Below ground are a service layer for utilities and a spine for high-speed transport, claimed to take 20 minutes end to end, standing on piles noted as up to 70 m deep with over 5,500 per module. A note says The National gave the height as 500 m above sea level while Dezeen and later reports say 500 m tall — Two mirrored walls enclose stacked public layers, with services and transport below ground: the idea as NEOM described it. Diagram: MOA

The Line NEOM dimensions and urban structure

The numbers are the design. Here they are as published, with the source for each:

Measure	Figure	Source and date
Length	170 km	NEOM, January 2021; The National, July 2022
Width	200 m	The National and Dezeen, July 2022
Height	500 m (The National says "above sea level"; Dezeen says "tall")	July 2022
Footprint	34 km²	The National, July 2022
Residents	1 million (2021), then 9 million (2022)	NEOM, 2021; The National, 2022
Walk to daily needs	5 minutes	NEOM, 2021
End-to-end trip	20 minutes	NEOM, 2021; The National, 2022

Two readings help. First, Allan and Parida note that 34 km² for nine million people is "less than 4 square metres per person" of land, with about 1,000 cubic metres of urban volume per resident, and that the 500 m height equals a conventional 125-storey skyscraper. Second, The Line gets its density from height, not footprint. It has no blocks or streets in the usual sense: the two walls are the urban structure, and the "street" is the open slot between them.

The city was to be built in modules along its length. NEOM's chief operating officer for The Line, Giles Pendleton, described the first segment, which he called Hidden Marina, as three interconnected modules about 2.5 km long, up to 500 m high, for more than 200,000 residents (Gulf Construction, 1 April 2025). Designboom describes the phasing as 800 m modular segments (29 April 2025).

NEOM The Line transport

The claim is that walking covers daily life and a high-speed line under the city covers the rest, with no cars. Station spacing, speed and capacity were not published in the sources we found, so we do not estimate them.

The Line NEOM construction: how it was built and governed

NEOM is a PIF-owned company chaired by the Crown Prince, so decisions on scale and money sit with the fund and the company, not with a public planning process like an Indian development authority's. Much of what is known about scale-backs therefore comes from press reports citing unnamed people; official statements have been brief.

On site, the main reported work is earthworks and piling. Qaddumi told Dezeen in August 2022 that piling for the first phase had begun, after work on the infrastructure corridor known as the Spine; designboom dates the start of earthworks and piling to late 2022. In April 2025 Pendleton posted that piling was nearing completion on the first segment, with over 5,500 piles per module driven up to 70 m deep and over 3.5 million m³ of concrete used across phase one (Gulf Construction). Building Design published his aerial photographs, showing concrete foundations along part of a 2.5 km site, a trench with large pipes and an onshore wind farm (Tom Lowe, 28 April 2025).

Designboom reported that vertical construction was scheduled for late 2025; we found no reputable report that it started.

Schematic comparison of lengths drawn to the same scale. A long pale red bar labelled 170 km end to end runs from the Red Sea coast inland through desert and mountains, with a note that the planned width is about 200 m, the footprint 34 square kilometres and the population nine million. Below it, a dashed bar of the same length has only a short dark red block at its left end, labelled about 2.4 to 2.5 km, under 1.5 percent of the announced length. A zoomed panel shows that first segment, Hidden Marina, as three linked modules spanning about 2.5 km, with notes that it was reported to be up to 500 m high for more than 200,000 residents on piles up to 70 m deep, and that Bloomberg reported in April 2024 that only about 2.4 km would be finished by 2030 while the minister said the scale was unchanged — The first segment reported under construction is a sliver of the 170 km first announced. Diagram: MOA

The Line NEOM scaled back: what changed

April 2024: Bloomberg, citing an unnamed source, reported that only about 2.4 km would be finished by 2030 and that the 2030 population target had dropped from 1.5 million to 300,000 (Archinect, 10 April 2024). On 29 April, Economy Minister Faisal Al Ibrahim told CNBC: "For NEOM, the projects, the intended scale is continuing as planned. There is no change in scale" (Natasha Turak, CNBC).
July 2025: Gulf News reported a strategic review of NEOM, which NEOM called "common practice". It cited a Wall Street Journal report of an internal estimate of US$8.8 trillion for the finished project, with a first phase of US$370 billion possibly finished only by 2035 (Justin Varghese, Gulf News). NEOM's original budget for the whole region had been US$500 billion.
January and February 2026: the Financial Times reported that The Line would become something far smaller, using infrastructure already built, with data centres under consideration. We rely on New Atlas's summary of the paywalled report (Adam Williams, 7 February 2026); it notes no official statement.
May 2026: Semafor reported, from people familiar with the matter, that further work on The Line was delayed until at least after 2030 following a review by NEOM's chief executive Aiman al-Mudaifer, and that NEOM's 2030 population target was now up to 100,000. NEOM did not immediately respond (Matthew Martin, Semafor, 22 May 2026).
October 2026: The New Arab, with agencies, reported that the NEOM Stadium, an elevated 2034 World Cup venue planned inside The Line, had been shelved, and that MEED listed it as on hold. The same report says the PIF's governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, said in April that The Line was no longer a priority while denying that any projects had been cancelled (The New Arab, 4 October 2026).

The clearest official signal is NEOM's own website. Its page for The Line, checked on 11 November 2026, gives no length, height or population, and describes the project as advancing through a "phased, demand-led approach".

Vertical timeline of The Line from 2021 to 2026. White dots mark official statements and pale red dots mark press reports citing unnamed sources or leaked documents. Events: 10 January 2021, NEOM announces a 170 km city for one million residents with no cars or streets; 2022, piling for the first phase starts, April per NEOM or late 2022 per designboom; 25 July 2022, designs shown with two mirrored walls 500 m high and 200 m wide for nine million people; April 2024, reported cut to about 2.4 km and 300,000 people by 2030, with the minister saying no change in scale; April 2025, NEOM's chief operating officer says piling is nearly done on the first segment, Hidden Marina; July 2025, strategic review and a leaked internal estimate reported at 8.8 trillion US dollars; January 2026, reported plan for a far smaller Line reusing built works with data centres considered; May 2026, work reported halted until after 2030 with no comment from NEOM; October 2026, NEOM Stadium inside The Line reported shelved; November 2026, NEOM's website describes a phased, demand-led approach — Official statements and press reports on The Line, in date order, so you can see which claim came from whom. Diagram: MOA

Reception and criticism

Design and environment

Dezeen asked experts about the 2022 design (Nat Barker, 8 August 2022). Philip Oldfield, head of the built environment school at UNSW Sydney, estimated the construction would produce upwards of 1.8 billion tonnes of embodied carbon dioxide and said "You cannot build a 500-metre-tall building out of low-carbon materials." Marshall Brown of Princeton said the images "project a degree of control which is very difficult to retain". Hélène Chartier of C40 Cities found the slot "so narrow" it felt claustrophobic. Allan and Parida added that the walls are likely to cast large shadows in midwinter and that reliance on lifts could work against walking and cycling.

Displacement of residents

UN human rights experts said on 3 May 2023 that authorities began moving members of the Huwaitat tribe out of three villages in January 2020, that many were allegedly evicted without suitable compensation, and that three Huwaitat men sentenced to death on terrorism charges were reportedly arrested for resisting evictions linked to The Line. One tribe member was reportedly killed by security forces during the early protests (UN News). In May 2024 the BBC reported a former Saudi intelligence officer, Col Rabih Alenezi, as saying an April 2020 order allowed lethal force to clear land; the BBC said it could not independently verify this (as reported by Archinect, 10 June 2024). Saudi Arabia's reply to the UN experts, as summarised by the rights group ALQST, rejected their concern, said the men were convicted of terrorism offences, put those affected by relocation at 1,143 families (6,360 people) and said residents had been consulted (ALQST, 16 August 2023).

Labour

An ITV documentary broadcast in October 2024 reported workers on The Line describing 16-hour days. It also reported that 21,000 migrant workers from India, Bangladesh and Nepal had died in Saudi Arabia; the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre gives the period as since 2016, while The B1M describes the deaths as on Vision 2030 projects since 2017. NEOM said it was assessing the claims and that contractors must follow its code of conduct and face frequent inspections (BHRRC, 28 October 2024). Saudi Arabia's National Council for Occupational Safety and Health rejected the claims and gave a work-related fatality rate of 1.12 per 100,000 workers (Fred Mills, The B1M, 5 November 2024).

Lessons for Indian cities

These are our reading, not findings from the sources.

Get linear density from transit, not from height. India's National Transit Oriented Development Policy, adopted by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in 2017 (ThePrint, 1 January 2024), already asks for high-density, mixed-use development within 500 to 800 m of a station, or a zone of about 500 m on either side of a corridor within a 10 to 12 minute walk (policy text, NCRTC copy). That is a linear city of ordinary buildings along a metro line. The Line squeezes walkability into a 200 m slot by going to 500 m, which is where the carbon and shading objections come from. For a thesis on corridor planning, see our thesis topics by typology.
Make every phase complete on its own. If funding stops at 2.5 km of 170, what is left must work as a neighbourhood, not as 1.5% of a system. Indian new towns and townships can plan for that from the first drawing, with a transport link, a school and a market in phase one.
Put land and people in the brief. In India the 2013 land acquisition law requires a social impact assessment for acquisitions, except under its urgency provision, and the consent of 80% of land owners for private projects and 70% for public-private ones, as PRS Legislative Research summarises it. Land that looks empty in a render can still be home to people: survey them and show them in the site analysis.
Test climate claims before they become slogans. "Self-shading" and natural ventilation were central to the pitch; critics raised shadows and mirrored glass. In hot Indian climates, sun-path studies and simple airflow checks of a section are cheap: do them early and say which claims are modelled. Our guide to documenting a case study shows how to separate what you measured from what you were told.

For a built tall building in a desert climate, see our Burj Khalifa case study. Our Masdar City case study is coming in this series.

Visiting

You cannot visit The Line. No part of it is complete, and NEOM's page for it gives no visitor information (checked 11 November 2026). To study it, use NEOM's own pages for its renders and statements, and the dated press sources below for what has happened since.

FAQ

Is The Line in NEOM still being built?

Not at full pace. Foundations for a first segment of about 2.5 km were reported nearly complete in April 2025. Semafor reported in May 2026 that further work was delayed until after 2030; NEOM did not comment. NEOM's website now describes a "phased, demand-led approach".

How long and how wide is The Line?

As announced in 2022: 170 km long, 200 m wide and 500 m high, on a footprint of 34 km². The first segment reported under construction is about 2.5 km long.

Who designed The Line NEOM?

NEOM did not officially name a lead architect in 2022. Dezeen reported that it understood the design was by Morphosis, and Building Design reported in 2025 that Morphosis left the project in 2024. Other firms have been named in press reports for planning and engineering roles.

What is the total cost of The Line?

No official total has been published. Gulf News, citing the Wall Street Journal, reported in July 2025 an internal estimate of US$8.8 trillion for the finished project and US$370 billion for the first phase. Semafor wrote in 2026 that The Line was once projected to cost more than US$1 trillion. Treat all of these as reported figures.

When will The Line be finished?

There is no official date. NEOM's 2021 release said construction would start in early 2021 and set targets for 2030. By 2026 press reports said work would not resume until after 2030.

See how MOA members plan and present real projects: explore projects on MOA.

Sources

NEOM: HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman announces THE LINE at NEOM, press release, 10 January 2021 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
NEOM: THE LINE (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
The National: Saudi Crown Prince committed to delivering city of the future, Mariam Nihal, 25 July 2022 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Dezeen: Saudi Arabia announces plans for a 100-mile, car-free linear city called The Line, Cajsa Carlson, 13 January 2021 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Dezeen: Saudi Arabia reveals 170-kilometre-long mirrored skyscraper to house nine million people, Tom Ravenscroft, 26 July 2022 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Dezeen: Experts on the sustainability and liveability of The Line, Nat Barker, 8 August 2022 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Dezeen: Interview with Tarek Qaddumi, Lizzie Crook, 11 August 2022 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
The Conversation: What is The Line, the 170km-long mirrored metropolis Saudi Arabia is building in the desert?, Andrew Allan and Subha Parida, 14 September 2022 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Archinect: NEOM's The Line is getting a lot shorter, for now, Josh Niland, 10 April 2024 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
CNBC: Saudi Arabia says all NEOM megaprojects will go ahead as planned, Natasha Turak, 29 April 2024 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Gulf Construction: NEOM update: piling nearly complete on Line's module, 1 April 2025 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Building Design: New pictures show construction of The Line from the air, Tom Lowe, 28 April 2025 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
designboom: NEOM's linear city, THE LINE, advances with stadium in the sky and mirrored marina, 29 April 2025 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Gulf News: Saudi Arabia hits reset on NEOM, Justin Varghese, updated 21 July 2025 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
New Atlas: End of the Line? Futuristic Saudi megacity facing major redesign, Adam Williams, 7 February 2026 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Semafor: Saudi's NEOM halts work on The Line until after 2030, Matthew Martin, 22 May 2026 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
The New Arab: Saudi Arabia quietly shelving NEOM Stadium, 4 October 2026 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
UN News: Human rights experts alarmed over imminent executions in Saudi Arabia, 3 May 2023 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Archinect: Saudi officials ordered lethal force to make room for NEOM, former security forces commander claims, Josh Niland, 10 June 2024 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
ALQST: On the Saudi government's reply to UN experts on the Huwaitat, 16 August 2023 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Business and Human Rights Resource Centre: ITV finds migrants constructing The Line experience labour rights abuse, 28 October 2024 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
The B1M: Documentary alleges 21,000 workers died on Saudi Vision 2030, Fred Mills, 5 November 2024 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs: National Transit Oriented Development Policy, 2017 (copy hosted by NCRTC) (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
ThePrint: Why govt's transit-oriented development policy is struggling to keep up with rapid metro expansion, Risha Chitlangia, 1 January 2024 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
PRS Legislative Research: Explained: changes that NDA wants to bring to land law, Joyita Ghose, 27 February 2015 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)