ShortHand: ‘The Line’ - Saudi Arabia’s Futuristic Megacity
RedHanded
Wondery | RedHanded
4.5 • 18.2K Ratings
🗓️ 6 January 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
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Summary
Imagine a building as tall as the Empire State Building, that stretches for more than 100km through the Saudi Arabian desert. Inside are nine million people – with robot maids and a giant fake moon – living in self-sufficient pods where everything they need is a five-minute walk away.
It’s part of NEOM, a futuristic megacity complex, which the Saudi government has already started building. And if you believe the PR, it’ll be a car-free, carbon-free, utopian existence – the most equitable and sustainable society in human history. But will it happen? And what is the financial (and human) cost? For our first ShortHand back in 2026, we’re looking at the most ambitious and controversial building project ever: The Line.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello. |
| 0:13.5 | Hello. |
| 0:14.5 | Welcome back. |
| 0:17.6 | I'm not back. I'm in Africa. |
| 0:20.2 | Blessing the rains. |
| 0:21.2 | Wherever you are, though. |
| 0:23.3 | 2026. |
| 0:25.2 | It's creeped up on all of us somehow. |
| 0:28.6 | And it says in my script that it's a brave new world of possibilities. |
| 0:32.9 | Sitting here in November, it doesn't feel that way. |
| 0:35.1 | But maybe it will be by then. |
| 0:36.6 | The script says so. It must be true. It's true crime, not made up crime. Exactly. |
| 0:44.3 | And if you're wondering what the glittering future holds look no further than the arid deserts of Saudi Arabia. |
| 0:52.2 | Because some of the world's best architects and city planners are currently working |
| 0:57.1 | on a project that they say will change the way we live on this planet. That's a quote. |
| 1:03.3 | The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud, calls his master plan the line. |
| 1:10.2 | It's not the most like magical name. I think it's very direct, though. Get straight to the point. Okay. I thought it was more like the Future Planning Committee. Don't look this way. I didn't. I quite like the line. It's very, it's very minimal. It's very, it's minimal. |
| 1:28.9 | It's classy, it's sophisticated. |
| 1:30.7 | It's just the way things are going to be. The Johnny Cash song about it. |
| 1:31.9 | Sure. |
| 1:33.3 | Anyway, the line is the crowning, I don't like it. |
| 1:39.4 | I like the line. |
... |
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