The Line: New York reimagined as a vertical city by Saudi Arabia’s Neom

Video shows Manhattan being compacted into a long, mirrored building

Saudi Arabia's Neom reimagines Manhattan as a vertical city

Saudi Arabia's Neom reimagines Manhattan as a vertical city
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Manhattan in New York has been reimagined as a 34-square-kilometre vertical city, inspired by The Line at Saudi Arabia's Neom.

A video by Neom shows the island of Manhattan being covered in greenery as all of its buildings are absorbed into a long, mirrored building.

The Line in the kingdom's Tabuk province will span a much larger distance than the mock-up of the US city. The gleaming 170-kilometre-long, 500-metre-tall city will be a mixed-use development, containing spaces for work, play and living, its designers say.

Manhattan is home to about nine million people and The Line is designed to be home to the same number.

Once completed, it will be the largest building on earth, stretching through mountain and desert terrain.

The designers of The Line, one of 10 districts of Saudi Arabia's mega project Neom, say it will reduce pollution created by other cities of its size as there will be no cars, only a high-speed train and other renewable transport solutions.

“The Line will be the first city in the world to be powered by renewable energy including wind, solar and hydrogen,” Giles Pendleton, executive director of development at The Line in Neom, told The National in August.

The New York concept video came as Trojena in Neom won the competition to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games.

Set to be completed in 2026, Trojena will include year-round skiing, a man-made freshwater lake, chalets, mansions and ultra-luxury hotels, the website says.

One of 10 regions within Neom, it is situated about 50 kilometres inland from the Gulf of Aqaba in an area that, like much of the rest of the kingdom, receives very little rainfall.

Updated: October 09, 2022, 6:51 PM