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169-Kilometer Linear City in Saudi Arabia Integrated with NEOM Raises Questions About Bird Collisions, Ecological Barriers, and Environmental Risks in One of the Planet’s Main Migratory Routes
The megaproject The Line, announced in January 2021 in Saudi Arabia, envisions a 169-kilometer linear city integrated with the NEOM initiative, raising alarms about severe environmental impacts on a vital migratory route for birds between Europe and Africa.
Planned as a smart city without cars, The Line would be 500 meters high, 200 meters wide, and 170 kilometers long, traversing the Saudi desert continuously.
The proposal is part of Saudi Vision 2030, with a promise to house up to nine million people, utilizing renewable energy and accessible services within five minutes.
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Since the initial announcements, the futuristic urban design has raised doubts about environmental impacts, especially due to its direct implementation in an ecologically sensitive region vital for animal migration.
Migratory Route and Risk to Birds
The city’s layout crosses a crucial migratory route used by billions of birds annually during seasonal movements between Europe and Africa, forming a natural corridor for passage.
In this region, birds from over 100 species pass through, including the Saker Falcon and the Egyptian Vulture, threatened species that depend on safe routes for survival.
The continuous presence of a large linear structure may alter natural flight paths, requiring long detours and increased energy expenditure during exhausting migrations.
The Line: Mirrored Facades as a Direct Threat
Another critical point lies in the mirrored facades planned for The Line, which reflect the sky and landscape, creating a dangerous visual illusion for moving birds.
These surfaces confuse birds’ orientation, leading to high-speed collisions with reflective walls, often resulting in immediate death or fatal injuries.
In dense urban environments, this type of material is already associated with high rates of avian mortality, a risk amplified by the unprecedented scale of the project.
Cascading Ecological Impacts
The high mortality of migratory birds can create cascading effects on broad ecosystems, affecting seed dispersal, insect control, and regional environmental balance.
Birds perform essential ecological functions, and abrupt population reductions undermine natural processes that sustain both desert environments and distant regions connected through migrations.
These effects can extend across continents, considering that migratory routes connect different biomes over thousands of kilometers.
Questions About Environmental Mitigation
So far, there has been no release of a detailed public environmental assessment explaining how collisions and migratory barriers would be effectively mitigated within the project.
Without clear technological solutions, experts believe that the proposed urbanism confronts nature rather than adapting to existing ecological flows.
Project representatives claim that 95% of the land and marine area of the region will be dedicated to nature, but critics point out practical gaps.
Delays and Reevaluations of The Line Project
In addition to environmental concerns, The Line faces execution challenges, with delays and scale revisions regarding the initial announced timelines.
Although the original goal anticipated significant advancements by 2030, only a fraction of the city is expected to become habitable in the coming decades, according to internal projections.
These reevaluations reinforce the need to reconsider priorities before expanding in environmentally sensitive areas, integrating more in-depth ecological analyses.
Urban Innovation Versus Preservation
The debate surrounding The Line exposes the dilemma between urban innovation and ecological preservation in contemporary large-scale megaprojects.
While futuristic proposals promise sustainable solutions for cities, their location can turn innovative concepts into unpredictable and permanent ecological traps.
Integrating environmental science into the initial planning is deemed essential to prevent technological advancements from leading to irreversible losses of local and global biodiversity.
With information from Sustainability and other sources.
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