Neom: An absurd city project in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The following article deals with Neom, an absurd city project in Saudia Arabia. Before talking about Neom itself, Saudi Arabia is considered by looking at different aspects including general information, economy and politics. After that, Neom, as a major component of the Vision 2030, is introduced. Here the utopian objectives with this project of Saudi Arabia are talked about. In contrast, the last main paragraph will deal with the critics on this project, which shows the dystopian side of it. In the end, everything will be concluded.

Overview Of Saudi Arabia

General Information

As the 13th largest country in the world, Saudi Arabia makes up almost 90% of the Arabian Peninsula, consists mostly of desert and borders with eight countries: Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen. This environment has led to different isolated regions economically as well as communicatively.

Economy

As of 2020, the gross domestic product of Saudi Arabia is valued at $700.12 billion. Over 90% of the $228 billion in exports derive from the petroleum industry. Relying almost solely on one economic branch can lead to various significant risks. First of all, and most importantly, the petroleum industry belongs to those industries that have to be phased out in the next few years due to the climate crisis. It will not be possible anymore to export tremendous amounts of fossil fuels, which in most parts are blown into the atmosphere without considering the effects on the global climate. Secondly, petroleum belongs to finite resources. Even though there have been large discussions about the exact amounts of the global reserves for decades and there have been changes in the forecasts about the end of the petroleum due to discovery of new oil fields and novel methods like hydraulic fracturing, there will be an end to petroleum production. Therefore, Saudi Arabia has to move to different economic branches and boost its innovation to compete in the future global market.

Politics

From the political perspective, Saudi Arabia as an absolute monarchy is comparable to medieval European states. This is also applicable when considering the religious system. The official legal religion of Saudi Arabia is the Islam, which is not segregated from the government. This leads to a huge influence of the Islam in politics as well as the governing and also effects the jurisdiction. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) lists Saudi Arabia, among 13 other countries, as a country of particular concern and specifies 17 religious prisoners of conscience. The interpretation of the Sharia, the Islamic religious law, imposes capital punishment for apostasy; openly declaring one’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, as well as intersex (LGBTQI) identity; and peaceful religious or political dissent. This ranks Saudi Arabia at 147/156 on the Global Gender Gap Index 2021 and makes it a social dystopia for women and LGBTQIs.
However, there are further abuses of human rights violations besides discrimination and the prosecution of women and LGBTQIs. This affects especially minority groups and political dissidents, including journalists, but also children, who can face the death penalty as soon as they show physical signs of puberty. As a specific example, Ali Mohammed Baqir al-Nimr, a participant in the Saudi Arabian protest during the Arab Spring, was sentenced to death at the age of just 17.
Qatar, a publically well known example of modern slavery, has led to a broad discussion about using such countries as hosts, for example, for the FIFA World Cup 2022. Regarding the rights of migrants, Saudi Arabia is no better. Amnesty International counts approximately 10 million migrant workers who are governed under a system called kafala, which forces them into a dependent relationship and prevents them in this way to change jobs or leave the country without the permission of their employer. Human Rights Watch documents several cases of physical and psychological abuse. This includes, among other things, beatings, deliberate burnings with hot irons, threats and insults.

Neom: A Major Component Of Vision 2030

General Information

The word Neom is a composition of the words neo (gr. new) and m (arab. future). It is part of the Vision 2030, first introduced by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which aims to be a strategic framework for a greener and more liberal future and is divided into different projects, one of which is Neom. As stated on the official website of Vision 2030, it is separated into six strategic objectives, which are: enhancing government effectiveness; enabling social responsibility; growing & diversifying the economy; increasing employment; strengthening Islamic & national identity and offering a fulfilling & healthy life. These objectives are built on top of three Vision's pillars, which are: A Vibrant Society; A Thriving Economy and An Ambitious Nation. The first pillar is crucial to achieving strong economic prosperity. The second pillar, aligned with the first pillar, is building an education system for all, which satisfies the needs of the market and creates opportunities for entrepreneurship. The third pillar will apply to efficiency and responsibility at all levels, especially the governing. Briefly speaking, Vision 2030 intends to modernize Saudi Arabia and make the country itself less dependent on fossil fuels like oil.
Neom will be built in the north-west of the country, right on the coast of the Red Sea. This region is promised to have rich wind and solar resources. The solar resources are accounted for 20 MJ/m² of energy. This will help to develop renewable energy projects. Neom will be backed by more than $500 billion from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia as well as local and international investors. It will be the home and workplace for more than a million citizens.
Neom will also be interesting in political terms. To ensure innovative progress and attract foreign investors and companies, Neom will be a political special zone with western values and a more liberal governing in comparison to the rest of the country. For example, according to Joseph Bradley, CEO of NEOM’s Tech and Digital Holding Company, legalizing alcohol plays an important role in attracting foreign talent and tourists.

The Line

Unlike other cities, which have a more or less circular structure with a city in the middle and a residential area around that, Neom's basis will be a 170 kilometres-long line connecting the coast of the Red Sea with the mountains in the north-west of Saudi Arabia. Everything else will be built within a small range, hiding all of the infrastructure below surface level and leaving space for nature, pedestrians and housing on top. It is promised that every essential service and amenity will be reachable in just five minutes of walking, while also achieving the maximum preservation of the enviroment. This way, the design of The Line will provide a seamless way of living with nature. Along The Line, there will be hyper-connected AI-enabled communities, which are powered by 100% clean energy. It is anticipated to create 380,000 jobs and contribute $48 billion to the gross domestic product of Saudi Arabia by 2030.

Infrastructure

The Line is not only the concept for the structure of the city; it will also be the backbone of the transport and economic infrastructure. By using such a novel city structure, it will require a lot of innovative techniques to ensure the security of supply for both the inhabitants as well as businesses. The Line itself will be separated vertically into three layers. The first layer will be at surface level and will provide space for pedestrians, bikers and parks. The second layer, also called the service layer, will hold space for cars, transportation of goods and room for storage. The last and deepest layer is called the spine and it is probably the most important one. With its ultra-high-speed transit, AI-controlled transport and next generation freight, it secures interoperability all along The Line. Neom aims to introduce key economic sectors, including energy, water and mobility. Neom will be totally powered by renewable energy. The water supply will be fully backed by a seawater desalination facility. In total, 1,666,000m³ of water will be delivered by using advanced reverse osmosis membranes and hybrid technologies, achieving >60% recovery. Saudi Arabia wants to offer an effortless, efficient and sustainable way of connecting people. Walkability and cycling should be at the heart of mobility, while aiming for zero carbon emissions and using 100% renewable energy. Neom will be connected to international networks by air, land and sea. As a special zone, Neom will offer personalized life-long learning journeys for all residents, starting from kindergarten through universities and beyond.

Critics

Exploitation Of Labour

Compared to many western cities, Saudi Arabia's cities do not have a centuries-old history. Neom represents one excessive and absurd example of this. In just over a decade, Neom is planned and constructed. There is no doubt that Saudi Arabia will use migrant workers to build Neom. Proven by the many historic cases and given the tight time schedule to build this city, it's very likely that these migrant workers will face substandard working conditions, human rights violations and severe abuses. Swiss journalist and Middle East expert Fredy Gsteiger points out Saudi Arabia's bureaucratic inefficeny and the lack of own capital. Despite well-known critics, foreign investors are attempting to be lured in by creating a buzz around the entire project. Similar projects like Masdar City in Abu Dhabi are fighting realization or adaption.

Demography

To offer all of the personalized services, Neom will need a lot of personal data. On the one hand, using such data will create effective ways of living and working, but on the other hand, it will threaten personal self determination. Collecting and storing such sensitive data by one of the most extreme non-free countries in the world for an international crowd implies tremendous risks to not only the people but other nations as well. Even if it is not Saudi Arabia who will misuse the data, say for diplomatic reasons, someone else certainly will. Neom will not only be a hub of innovation and progress, but also of massive personalized data sets, which could be attacked by governmental and non-governmental hackers. In the worst case, this could lead to one of the cyberutopias, as depicted, for example, in Orwell's "1984".
Another aspect is the people themselves. To attract innovation and capital and considering the restriction of just 1 million residents, Saudi Arabia will only allow wealthy or educated people to enter Neom, at least in the beginning. So, predominantly white and male people will shape the cityscape of Neom.

Saudi Arabia's Responsibility For Climate Change

As described in the overview of Saudi Arabia, the phase out of fossil fuels due to the climate crisis is one main reason for abolishing this economic branch. Interestingly, Saudi Arabia does not address this in its six strategic objectives as described in the vision of Neom. It is really absurd to read the press statement about The Line by Mohammed bin Salman. He talks about the alarming future we face regarding the climate crisis. How one billion people will have to relocate by 2050. How 90% of the population have to breathe polluted air. And why we sacrifice nature for the sake of development. Mohammed bin Salman himself answers these questions with the concept of The Line in Neom, while he completely leaves out the true reasons for the climate crisis and all of its consequences. His state and his economy are responsible for 18.94tCO₂e per capita in 2019 alone. This is twice the emissions of Germany (9.37tCO₂e per capita in 2019). He creates some kind of Utopia and hype around Neom and The Line, while completely ignoring his dystopia he currently governs, which fuels the climate crisis and air pollution massively.
When looking at the official website of Neom, a lot of utopian-like terms are used: Industry 4.0, integrated supply chains, leveraging solar and wind power in a dual system and well-being and biotech ecosystem. All of these things sound promising, but lack specific plans for implementation.

Persecution Of The Bedouin

Even buidling The Line itself is not a clean act. As planned, The Line will be built from the coast of the Red Sea to the mountains in the north-west of Saudi Arabia. These mountains, however, are not untouched land full of far-reaching desert. Instead, they are home to approximately 20,000 Bedouin, a minority group of nomadic Arabs. The Huwaitat are a traditionally nomadic Bedouin tribe, which has lived on both sides of the Saudi-Jordanian border for hundreds of years. This tribe now faces eviction and forced displacement in the regions where Neom will be built. In the process, Saudi Arabia does not shy away from using bribery, violence and even murder, as a prominent example shows. Abdul Rahim al-Hwaiti, a member of this tribe and critic of Neom, talks in a video about the people who were against the eviction and did not want to leave their houses either getting imprisoned or killed. Abdul Rahim al-Hwaiti is sure, that with his video he will be the next. Furthermore, he is sure the securities will break into his house, throw a weapon next to him and kill him by claiming he is a terrorist. MENA Rights Group reports that on April 13, 2020, only a few hours after his video, his house was raided by security forces using excessive force and he was killed.

Conclusion

Saudi Arabia is comparable to medieval European states, including slavery, brought into the 21st century. As an absolute monarchy, it ranks terrible on different human rights scales, like freedom of religion or LGBTQ rights. With Neom as an oasis of liberty and western values, the monarchy tries to shake off and distract from its issues.
Relying solely on one economic branch can lead to various significant risks. Saudi Arabia is aware of this issue and is trying to resolve it with Vision 2030 to put some innovative pressure on the country. In the face of massive oil production and a devastating climate crisis, Neom strives to be the world's green(-washing) flagship.
The days of petroleum, Saudi Arabia's biggest economic branch, are numbered. In order to compete in the future global economy, Saudi Arabia has to reinvent itself, economically as well as politically. With The Line, an ambitious and innovative city infrastructure concept of Neom, Prince Mohammed bin Salman tries to build up hype to attract foreign investors.
Neom shall be an exit for Saudi Arabia's conflict between the end of the petroleum age and medieval-style governance. Saudi Arabia draws a utopian future for Neom as it could be written in a science fiction book. But in reality, security forces use excessive violence and murder to force the displacement of the local Bedouin. Neom will be built just right on top of the blood of these people, which resembles a dystopia. This is truly absurd.