More on The Line
September 8, 2022 2:31 AM Subscribe
It may now be seen as a dystopian nightmare the far-flung folly of an autocrat desperate for global approval, but the idea of building a self-contained linear city has preoccupied the imaginations of architects and planners for generations. The Line might bill itself as a “never-before-seen approach to urbanisation”, but the principles behind it have been proposed many times over – though never successfully realised.
Since the previous post is now closed, this is a single link post with an article providing context to The Line -- the project in Saudi Arabia for a linear city
Big “Hitler designing Berlin Germania” vibes coming from this MBS fellow
posted by glaucon at 5:21 AM on September 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by glaucon at 5:21 AM on September 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
I occasionally wonder if the only real reason these long, narrow city models exist is because the people building the models - as in, the actual physical models on the actual physical tables they're on - can easily reach across them, so they're easier to build.
It's a useful interpretation, I think, as an expression of the common ground shared by the mediocre architect designing the city and the mediocre despot who intends to rule over it: this implicit, unspoken, unimaginative design goal of total control, of a city where the architecture itself implicitly encodes the exercise of power.
It's really gross and lazy.
posted by mhoye at 6:04 AM on September 8, 2022 [6 favorites]
It's a useful interpretation, I think, as an expression of the common ground shared by the mediocre architect designing the city and the mediocre despot who intends to rule over it: this implicit, unspoken, unimaginative design goal of total control, of a city where the architecture itself implicitly encodes the exercise of power.
It's really gross and lazy.
posted by mhoye at 6:04 AM on September 8, 2022 [6 favorites]
If it looks like something from a Marvel movie, there’s a reason. The army of consultants commissioned to work on Neom, the $500bn urban region of which the Line is part, comprises not only urban planners but numerous digital artists from the special effects industry. According to a Bloomberg report, they include Olivier Pron, a designer who helped create the look of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy films; Nathan Crowley, known for his work on the brooding Dark Knight trilogy of Batman movies; and futurist Jeff Julian, who worked on the apocalyptic extravaganzas World War Z and I Am Legend.
what could possibly go wrong?
posted by chavenet at 6:07 AM on September 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
what could possibly go wrong?
posted by chavenet at 6:07 AM on September 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
The sunward side is going to be soooo cooked. That'll make a lovely charred vista for the occupants.
posted by neonamber at 6:14 AM on September 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by neonamber at 6:14 AM on September 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Olly Wainwright is probably the best architecture critic writing today. Check out his back catalog for more gems.
posted by q*ben at 6:30 AM on September 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by q*ben at 6:30 AM on September 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
...this implicit, unspoken, unimaginative design goal of total control, of a city where the architecture itself implicitly encodes the exercise of power.
Control, yes. But, control over whom? This sort of ultra-contained and regimented structure feels to me to be akin to 19th century ideals of prisons. I mean, I can’t imagine the despots themselves ever taking-up residence in this sort of “city”. Oddly, in a way, it’s too spread-out.
No, I kind see this particular structure as a kind of soft prison. But, a prison where people willingly take-up residence, and pay for the pleasure. A place to house undesirables and foreigners far away from the center of political and religious power.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:31 AM on September 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Control, yes. But, control over whom? This sort of ultra-contained and regimented structure feels to me to be akin to 19th century ideals of prisons. I mean, I can’t imagine the despots themselves ever taking-up residence in this sort of “city”. Oddly, in a way, it’s too spread-out.
No, I kind see this particular structure as a kind of soft prison. But, a prison where people willingly take-up residence, and pay for the pleasure. A place to house undesirables and foreigners far away from the center of political and religious power.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:31 AM on September 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Well, I just deleted my draft of Spidermechs of Asparagus City. Why are all the good ideas taken?
posted by adept256 at 7:01 AM on September 8, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by adept256 at 7:01 AM on September 8, 2022 [7 favorites]
Why do the petals of a flower not arrange themselves in one long line?
posted by hypnogogue at 7:08 AM on September 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by hypnogogue at 7:08 AM on September 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
Forcing a city to remain within a 220m wide strip and inefficiently grow outwards is a megalomaniacal display of power.
Imagine all the social and economic pressure there would be for any segment of this city to just expand laterally. Widening a block beyond 220 meters to add more residences, storefronts, or manufacturing is a heck of a lot cheaper and easier than tacking on more city miles down the road at either end. The desire and incentives to build orthogonally are enormous, and this guy is literally drawing a line in the sand against every social and economic force which shapes the growth of a city so that he can demonstrate how much control he has.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 7:25 AM on September 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
Imagine all the social and economic pressure there would be for any segment of this city to just expand laterally. Widening a block beyond 220 meters to add more residences, storefronts, or manufacturing is a heck of a lot cheaper and easier than tacking on more city miles down the road at either end. The desire and incentives to build orthogonally are enormous, and this guy is literally drawing a line in the sand against every social and economic force which shapes the growth of a city so that he can demonstrate how much control he has.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 7:25 AM on September 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
So many references to shorter travel distances and greater convenience in the article! I don’t understand the complete spatial illiteracy that would cause someone to believe a prediction so obviously wrong. We already know how to shrink distances within the constraints of gravity: put things on a 2D plane, connect them with streets or trains in a grid or a mesh.
posted by migurski at 7:28 AM on September 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by migurski at 7:28 AM on September 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
Imagine being so powerful that you are a fan of the cyberpunk genre because your takeaway is "Total unregulated corporate autocracy! Cool!"
posted by rikschell at 7:34 AM on September 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by rikschell at 7:34 AM on September 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
Randy Savage Voice: BONESAW CI-TY
posted by Going To Maine at 8:42 AM on September 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Going To Maine at 8:42 AM on September 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
I guess this city is populated by office workers. I'm not seeing space for factories or any kind of large-scale production, from stockyards to computer chip foundries. Ha ha! Imagine the Amazon warehouse arranged this way! It would be like the Infinite IKEA!
posted by SPrintF at 9:14 AM on September 8, 2022
posted by SPrintF at 9:14 AM on September 8, 2022
Where will the poor people live though?
posted by gottabefunky at 9:58 AM on September 8, 2022
posted by gottabefunky at 9:58 AM on September 8, 2022
Where will the poor people live though?
This is the line in the trailer that prompts the scene of anarchic desert nomads outside the The Line who are planning to attack it.
posted by Liquidwolf at 11:44 AM on September 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
This is the line in the trailer that prompts the scene of anarchic desert nomads outside the The Line who are planning to attack it.
posted by Liquidwolf at 11:44 AM on September 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
Well, once you have a line, then you can easily cross it with another line. Then criss-cross those with a bunch of lines in a kind of, "grid", we'll call it.
posted by ctmf at 12:08 PM on September 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by ctmf at 12:08 PM on September 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
a kind of, “grid”, we’ll call it.
Why not “the waffle”? I’d live in the waffle.
posted by Going To Maine at 1:10 PM on September 8, 2022 [6 favorites]
Why not “the waffle”? I’d live in the waffle.
posted by Going To Maine at 1:10 PM on September 8, 2022 [6 favorites]
Anyone wondering where this leads will surely have a fun time watching High-Rise, in which Tom Hiddleston has a perfectly lovely time getting to know his fellow neighbors.
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 2:51 PM on September 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 2:51 PM on September 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
There's a line-style city in Paolo Soleri's Arcology book. Could be interesting. I'd rather see an actual non-linear arcology tho.
posted by technodelic at 4:02 PM on September 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by technodelic at 4:02 PM on September 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
In 2000 years, the wandering nomads will point to the ruins of this unfinished project and tell their children that it is the legendary Irem, Atlantis of the Sands, the mad city of an ancient devil king whose name is lost to the sands of time.... a black city where no man dwells, riven with the howls of ghuls and djinn....
posted by LeRoienJaune at 5:50 PM on September 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by LeRoienJaune at 5:50 PM on September 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
It’s a bonkers project. But I sort of like bonkers projects.
posted by Phanx at 1:40 AM on September 9, 2022
posted by Phanx at 1:40 AM on September 9, 2022
First off, this is clearly a project designed to loot the government coffers rather than an actual project.
Second off, I just kinda believe that the Line, as a concept, started as "what if we could race our supercars through a city for miles without stoplights or pedestrians." In that scenario, you don't need more than 220m of city surrounding your street race.
posted by pwnguin at 1:37 PM on September 9, 2022
Second off, I just kinda believe that the Line, as a concept, started as "what if we could race our supercars through a city for miles without stoplights or pedestrians." In that scenario, you don't need more than 220m of city surrounding your street race.
posted by pwnguin at 1:37 PM on September 9, 2022
In 2000 years, the wandering nomads will point to the ruins of this unfinished project and tell their children that it is the legendary Irem, Atlantis of the Sands, the mad city of an ancient devil king whose name is lost to the sands of time.... a black city where no man dwells, riven with the howls of ghuls and djinn....
Time to make that video game.
posted by Going To Maine at 4:03 PM on September 9, 2022
Time to make that video game.
posted by Going To Maine at 4:03 PM on September 9, 2022
First off, this is clearly a project designed to loot the government coffers rather than an actual project.
So far it's doing a pretty good job transferring money to engineering consultants.
(Which I'm definitely not complaining about)
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:48 PM on September 9, 2022
So far it's doing a pretty good job transferring money to engineering consultants.
(Which I'm definitely not complaining about)
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:48 PM on September 9, 2022
Why not “the waffle”? I’d live in the waffle.
Washington, DC is the physical and ethical place for you, then.
posted by cenoxo at 9:14 AM on September 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
Washington, DC is the physical and ethical place for you, then.
posted by cenoxo at 9:14 AM on September 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
technodelic > There's a line-style city in Paolo Soleri's Arcology book.
• Lean Linear City: Arterial Arcology by Paolo Soleri (Goodreads)
• [PAOLO SOLERI] Lean Linear City: Arterial Arcology (YouTube)
posted by cenoxo at 11:00 AM on September 10, 2022
• Lean Linear City: Arterial Arcology by Paolo Soleri (Goodreads)
• [PAOLO SOLERI] Lean Linear City: Arterial Arcology (YouTube)
posted by cenoxo at 11:00 AM on September 10, 2022
Looking at your neighbors leaning across The Line would be seriously claustrophobic, like looking across the interior of cylindrical Ponte City (The Atlantic archive.today link). However, The Line would be perfect for Zip Line Tours Through City Space (BLDGBLOG).
The ultimate expression of The Line? RingWorld.
posted by cenoxo at 12:06 PM on September 10, 2022
The ultimate expression of The Line? RingWorld.
posted by cenoxo at 12:06 PM on September 10, 2022
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posted by vorpal bunny at 5:17 AM on September 8, 2022 [1 favorite]