, Columnist
As One Evergrande Falls, Another Rises in the Saudi Desert
The potential folly of the futuristic city Crown Prince Mohammed envisions along the Red Sea isn’t in the financials, it’s in the country’s underlying reality.
An artist rendering of the mirrored parallel buildings.
Image: Neom
This article is for subscribers only.
Everything about Neom — the futuristic city being developed near the shores of the Red Sea by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — seems fantastical.
From flying elevators to 100-mile long skyscrapers to a floating, zero-carbon port, it seems to owe more to Coruscant and Wakanda than to any urban forms outside of science fiction.