Property & Real Estate
NEOM City futuristic plans unveiled by Crown Prince
Saudi Arabia’s Neom City is really beginning to sound like something straight out of a sci-fi movie script.
The in-development Saudi city-state will have flying taxis, robot maids, and even glow-in-the-dark sand, according to recently seen confidential planning documents reviewed by The WSJ. Incredibly an artificial moon will light up the Neom City sky every night, and a Jurassic Park-style island will let visitors mingle with robotic dinosaurs – let alone the multitude of off-the-scale real estate developments taking place.
But also buried in the 2,300 pages of planning documents obtained by the WSJ are plans for the forcible relocation of local tribes, the creation of human gene-editing clinics, and 24/7 government surveillance.
Since 2017, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been working with teams of consultants to develop his vision for the $500 billion Neom city in the currently barren northwestern corner of Saudi Arabia.
It won’t be desert for long, though — MBS plans to use “cloud seeding” to produce rain over Neom, cooling the city and making fresh produce widely available.
Future citizens not interested in visiting the farmer’s markets will instead be able to make reservations at a Michelin-star restaurant, which Neom aims to have more of per inhabitant than any other place in the world, according to the plans.
As for what else you’ll find in Neom, the WSJ notes plans for world-class schools with hologram teachers, the planet’s best-paying jobs, and glow-in-the-dark sand, because, well, that’s what the Crown Princes wants, two people familiar with the project told the WSJ.
“Neom is all about things that are necessarily future-oriented and visionary,” Neom Chief Executive Nadhmi al Nasr told the WSJ. “So we are talking about technology that is cutting edge and beyond — and in some cases still in development and maybe theoretical.”