>>1991997Jeddah even has it's own weeb anime district now too. It's a long road to transition from a pariah state to a fully modernized international hub that people actually want to live, work, and possibly raise a family in. Jeddah specifically couldn't be anything like Tokyo without major changes to the cultural structure. Japan has it's own problems but there's enough to balance out the bullshit it's attractive for expats. Meanwhile in Jeddah the cost of living is relatively high, shops and restaurants close for 20min 5 times a day every day, no alcohol, car dependency, you're certainly not going to be dating anyone there, etc.
With NEOM it's not just the Line, it's a collection of some absolutely ridiculous projects as part of a massive international zone far away from the interior and cultural bullshit and close to Jordon, Israel, and Egypt. They want to be everything to everyone so long as they're wealthy, that's why the scale is so ridiculous. The Gulf of Aqaba plan contains 11 different districts: private beach clubs, luxury hotels and residences for the super wealthy, a nature reserve, an outlandish outdoor immersive theater, and so on. My personal favorite is Aquellum a "subterranean digitalized community of the future".
As others have mentioned between governmental structure and the directives to build the unprecedented and transformative "no" is not in the vocabulary. Especially for all the engineers, planners, architects, and corpo partners being well compensated to lay and promote the plans as technically feasible. The Line is supposed to be the ultimate expression of mastered planned urbanism and a scifi "Revolution in Civilization". Walt Disney's EPCOT is quaint compared to any one of these projects. Assuming these reports are accurate, The Line scale back is what happens when reality comes up quick, and the people in charge have to revaluate their grand ideas and compromise.
Forget Tokyo, MBS wants to outclass every metro area on the planet
