HackerTube

Neom - The Line - The Rise and Fall of Saudi Arabia's Linear City.

Patrick Boyle2 HN recommenders · recommended in 4 months, 2024–2025
YouTube
commentary · general · 2024–2025 on HN

Patrick Boyle's deadpan account of Saudi Arabia's Neom and The Line megaproject, a planned 170 km linear city that has been scaled back to a fraction of its size. He covers the feasibility problems and the financing.

Recommended as the entertaining, skeptical overview of Neom whenever its progress comes up.

7 comments from Hacker News

@tim3332025-03 · in “What Went Wrong at Saudi Arabia's Futuristic Metropolis in the Desert”

It was kind of a duff idea from the start. Patrick Boyles youtube Neom - The Line - The Rise and Fall of Saudi Arabia's Linear City ▶ this video is rather epic if you haven't seen it.

Strongly recommends View on HN
@tim3332025-11 · in “The AI bubble is bigger than you think”

It's been rather extraordinary. The Patrick Boyle vid on Neom done about a year ago was entertaining ( ▶ this video ). As might be expected that's all ground to a halt now.

Recommends View on HN
@tim3332024-10 · in “Saudi Arabian Neom project 'uses one fifth of world's steel'”

I think not. They probably mean the planned project would use one fifth of the world's steel but it is currently just a hole in the ground and the project is kind of ridiculous and won't get built as planned - even the Saudis don't have enough money. Patrick Boyle had an entertaining youtube on it ▶ this video

Recommends View on HN
@karaterobot2024-04 · in “Saudi Arabia's Sci-Fi Megacity in the Desert Isn't Going Well”

Patrick Boyle's channel on Youtube did a great video on this. ▶ this video It seems unfeasible, bordering on impossible, and also a terrible idea even if aliens came down and built it for us tomorrow.

Recommends View on HN
@smcin2025-06 · in “Everything you need to know about Egypt's new capital city”

Doesn't count. Egypt's New Administrative Capital is located only 45km east of Cairo. Whereas previous epic fails on relocating capitals (/planned cities): - Nigeria's Abuja (1991) [0] is 330 mi/530 km northeast of Lagos, 1h20 by plane or 12hr by car. Fairly successful relocation. - Myanmar's Naypyidaw (2008) is 320 km/200 mi north of Yangon [1] Claimed 2025 population 930K, actual 780-900K. - Indonesia's Nusantara ("will be fully finished in five phases by 2045, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of Indonesia") is on Borneo, 870 mi/11400 km and one island northeast of Jakarta [2] - also Saudi Arabia previously had King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC, planned since 2005), not a capital replacement: a planned city, intended as a logistics and manufacturing hub. Planned population: 2 million; actual 2002 population: only 7,000. [3] KAEC is referenced in the epic totally-not-sarcastic video Patrick Boyle on "Neom - The Line - The Rise and Fall of Saudi Arabia's Linear City" [4]. [0]: link [1]: link [2]: link [3]: link [4]: ▶ this video