It’s a concept city; an urban development built from scratch based on an untested design. It’s natural to be skeptical.

I’m really excited to see the end project tho. I’m a pretty strong believer that the vast majority of todays issues (especially climate change) stem from the way people live in cities. This city would be a closed system where human pollution is completely controlled and waste is recycled, mixed use transportation and spaces would give people the ultimate freedom to choose how to move around (not reliant on cars), everyone would seemingly have a housing unit and therefore no homelessness or slums.

I know this city is being built by an authoritarian prince and likely a vanity project, being built by forced labor, and the line shape will destroy local migration and harm immediate ecosystem. But people should be more optimistic about this. Even if some goals are met, it would open the floodgates of conversation in urban planning and government civil management circles about the role city design impacts us and the environment, and more importantly how it can be improved.