Why Saudi Arabia Is Building a Linear City

Ok… who would live in such a ‘city’?  I presume this is solely for Saudi’s as no one outside of Saudi can secure residency, and if this was changed, I still don’t think it would attract people to live in what is essentially a over-sized shopping mall.  A footprint of 38 square kms with a population of 9 million… you do the math to determine the population density.  

By my calculation = 236,842 people per square kilometre.  Ok, I haven’t considered the spread of people within the vertical aspect of 500 meters, however it just doesn’t make any sense not matter which way you look at it.  

The most densely populated city in the world is Mumbai and that is circa 77,000 people per square mile (not square kilometre)!