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Are you interested in city of NEOM and its history and future?

Our summary today works with the book chapter titled The story of NEOM city: opportunities and challenges from 2019 by Alshimaa Aboelmakarem Farag, from the book titled New cities and community extensions in Egypt and the Middle East, published by Springer. Since we are investigating the future of cities, I thought it would be interesting to see one of the biggest new city developments and this is a great preparation for the next interview with Richard Morrison. This chapter presents NEOM’s history, opportunities and challenges. Plus, I also included the ChatGPT service’s summary and pros and cons as a treat at the end of the episode.

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Welcome to today’s What is The Future For Cities podcast and its Research episode; my name is Fanni, and today I will introduce a research paper by summarising it. The episode really is just a short summary of the original paper, and, in case it is interesting enough, I would encourage everyone to check out the whole paper. Stay tuned until because I will give you the 3 most important things and some questions which would be interesting to discuss.

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The story of Neom started in the public eye when the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman announced its launch in 2017. NEOM was announced to be a short gateway to the future, the destination for dreamers of the future. NEOM was to be the place for a new way of life, a strategic trading location, with picturesque nature and beautiful weather, innovation, technology and liveability at its core. It is not for conventional people or companies, but for those who want to create a new place in the world. The name NEOM is constructed from two parts: from the Greek neo meaning new and the letter M representing the Mostaqbal in Arabic meaning future.

There are great ambitions for the future of NEOM and aspirations to transform a new land into a new way of life. The promoters are aspiring to attract the creative class and talented minds and empower them with technology and a perfect place to work and live in, to create e new city inspired by imagination. The aim was to attract 500 billion dollar investment from local and international banks to create the city that is most efficient, happiest, safest, and healthiest place to work and live in and to lead the world to the future. According to the crown prince, it would be impossible to build an entity like NEOM except by eliminating the vision of existing cities and creating a completely new one.

The land is in the northwestern region of Saudi Arabia – selected to host the completely new city. It is a strategic location due to its coastline, beautiful views and connections to nearby attractions and transportation hubs, like the Suez Canal. This strategic choice enables NEOM to become a global hub for trade, innovation and knowledge. The city is also planned to span across three countries: Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, connecting Asia, Europe and Africa, although Egypt and Jordan’s willingness can be questionable due to their lack of marketing on the plan.

The kingdom and the land are rich in natural resources, like gas and oil. However, NEOM is planned to be powered solely by regenerative energy and to develop renewable energy projects. There are sustainability standards set in place for the development to follow through, so solar and wind energy will play a huge role, and the materials needed for the energy generation will also increase the manufacture industry in the area. From the sand and sunshine which were difficulties in the past, NEOM seems to have a great opportunity to be fully net zero carbon.

The community of NEOM is a topic that intersects with several issues, Saudi traditions, religion, visions, young generations, women’s rights and the expected new citizens, like robots, the creative community and the investors. The current Saudi community has had several dramatic changes in recent history and the promoters are betting on the new generations that have a different view on the future. The crown prince called upon the younger generation to replace the extreme conservative ideas to enable the society to live a moderate life. NEOM is also to be a place for robots establishing its futuristic brand. These robots are to serve people and carry out required tasks making people’s life happier and easier. The creative citizen or group term is used to refer to the people whose economic value is to innovate new ideas, technology or creative content in a specific domain. A world-scale project like NEOM will help to develop robotic technology, impacting not just the local population but humankind as well.

NEOM has been branded to be the safest, most efficient, most future-oriented and the best place to work and live in. NEOM is an imaginary vision for a futuristic city without an existing one, and a liveable place for humans, where people can enjoy a new way of life, that is healthier, happier, free from stress and where people can have more time for the things that matter for life. The unique lifestyle includes technologies enhancing transportation, growing and processing food, healthcare, internet and digital air (which is a free wireless high-speed internet). Besides these, there will be net-zero carbon houses, world-class continuous online education, the use of renewable energy, and robots.

However, the project has been criticised by analysists worldwide, stating that the purpose of NEOM is simply advertisement showing a reliable and positive image to the world, but nothing promised will be realised by the end date, 2030. Branding is important but not enough for a city to be successful on the long run. The low price of oil which has been the first revenue of the kingdom could jeopardise the financial basis. People are questioning the current social and economic situation of Saudi Arabia and its ability to brand NEOM as a global economic hub in the twenty-first century due to its lack of success with previous projects.

Additionally, it is also a question whether NEOM is the best project for the kingdom in its current and probable future economic situation. Many highlighted that developing existing cities could be more beneficial than creating completely new ones. NEOM leaders assume that the project will help diversify Saudi’s economy and retain talent for the country, beside the beneficial local investments in renewable energy production. Individual investors are questioning the data and pictures while others doubt the bureaucracy’s willingness to not slow down the project. Even Saudis have questioned the project because its lack of knowledge of the social and political context in the Saudi Kingdom and base of foreign consultants. The accelerating changes from the younger generations in social circles are creating resistance from conservative clerics and political activists. Social change needs time but it happens fast in Saudi Arabia and NEOM just accelerates such transformations.

NEOM is one of the most controversial project with great branding but questionable success and huge challenges. It is planned to be a hub for advanced technology, renewable energy, and innovative industries, and is intended to be a model for future urban development. If the leaders of the Kingdom want to succeed, they need to follow scientific steps and studies and to be careful and credible in addressing the present and future threats and weaknesses.

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I was interested in how the new ChatGPT would summarise the pros and cons for NEOM with its updated resources since the article. According to the ChatGPT, the pros are connected to advanced technology and innovation, sustainability and quality of life. NEOM is intended to be a hub for advanced technology and innovation, with a focus on artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and renewable energy. This could potentially bring new job opportunities and economic growth to the region. The city is planned to be powered entirely by renewable energy sources and to produce more energy than it consumes. This could help to reduce the city’s environmental impact and make it more sustainable in the long term. NEOM is intended to have a strong focus on quality of life, with an emphasis on providing a healthy, vibrant environment for its residents and visitors. This could potentially make it an attractive place to live and work.

ChatGPT highlighted costs, displacement, political instability, and unknown timeline as the cons. The development of NEOM is expected to be expensive, and it is not yet clear how the costs of building and maintaining the city will be funded. The site for NEOM city is located in an area that is currently home to a small number of people, and it is not yet clear how these individuals will be compensated for any losses they may incur as a result of the city’s development. Saudi Arabia has faced criticism and political instability in recent years, which could potentially impact the development of NEOM city. The development of NEOM is still in the early stages, and it is not yet clear when the city will be completed or when it will begin to attract residents and businesses. This uncertainty could potentially be a concern for potential investors and residents.

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What was the most interesting part for you? What questions did arise for you? Do you have any follow up question? Let me know on Twitter at WTF4Cities or on the wtf4cities.com website where the transcripts and show notes are available! Additionally, I will highly appreciate if you consider subscribing to the podcast or on the website. I hope this was an interesting paper for you as well, and thanks for tuning in!

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Finally, as the most important things, I would like to highlight 3 aspects:

1. NEOM is planned to be a hub for advanced technology, renewable energy, and innovative industries, and is intended to be a model for future urban development.
2. The biggest opportunities are advanced technology and innovation, sustainability, and quality of life for this project.
3. The biggest challenges are the costs, displacement, political instability, unknown timeline, only branding without substance, economic downturn, and social challenges.

Additionally, it would be great to talk about the following questions:

1. What do you think about creating a completely new city?
2. What have you learned from NEOM what you didn’t know before?
3. Would you be willing to move to NEOM based on this information?
4. What would change your answer?

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