---
title: NEOM / The Line Linear City
type: technology
url: "https://www.envisioning.com/research/polis/gulf-states__neom-the-line-smart-city"
hub: polis
summary: "Saudi Arabia's $500B linear city has been descoped from 170km to a 5km initial segment by 2030, but the underlying smart city technologies in logistics, construction, and urban systems remain in active development."
---

# NEOM / The Line Linear City

Saudi Arabia's $500B linear city has been descoped from 170km to a 5km initial segment by 2030, but the underlying smart city technologies in logistics, construction, and urban systems remain in active development.
- Technology Readiness Level: 4/9
- Impact: 3/5
- Investment: 2/5
The Line is the centerpiece of Saudi Arabia's NEOM megaproject — a planned 170-kilometer linear city in the desert with no cars, powered entirely by renewable energy. Originally announced as a $500 billion project, The Line has undergone significant descoping: as of late 2025, Saudi Arabia plans to complete a 5km central segment by 2030, with full completion rescheduled for 2045. The sovereign wealth fund reportedly wrote down significant early investments.

Despite the scaling back, NEOM's technology development continues: the Oxagon industrial city is being built with advanced manufacturing capabilities, massive desalination infrastructure is under construction, and the project's concrete factory network aims to produce 20,000 cubic meters per day. The underlying smart city technologies — AI-managed logistics, autonomous transport systems, integrated sensor networks — are being developed regardless of The Line's ultimate scale.

The Line's story is instructive for global observers: it demonstrates both the ambition and limitations of top-down technology moonshots. The pivot toward using NEOM infrastructure for data centers rather than residential development suggests a more pragmatic approach. Even at reduced scale, NEOM will produce innovations in desert construction, renewable energy integration, and automated urban systems that have value beyond the project itself.

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Source: Envisioning — Technology Research Institute (https://www.envisioning.com/research/polis/gulf-states__neom-the-line-smart-city)