As the Coronavirus swept the globe, nations are having their citizens quarantine themselves to the point that our lives seem almost unreal. This new normal seems more like something out of a science fiction story. If there is one thing we have learned from this experience, it is that some of the scenarios imagined for books, television, and film can come true. If a situation like a worldwide pandemic can happen in a society as technologically advanced as ours, why can’t a perfect utopian city become a reality too? That is exactly the vision of Mohammed bin Salman (MbS), the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.

Considered a modern visionary for Saudi Arabia, MbS has worked to make some very progressive changes in his country. Perhaps the reforms that stand out the most is how he is changing the way women in Saudi Arabia are treated by ensuring them greater equal rights, as well as restricting the powers of religious police. But, for MbS his greatest passion project is to create a city that is in every sense of the word Paradise. This vision, which is already in the planning stages will be called Neom. The name Neom is derived from the Latin word Neo and an abbreviation of the Arabic word for future, in essence meaning New Future. The Neom project is estimated to cost $500 billion to complete, but for someone like MbS who has a reported net worth of over $3 billion, this just means raising some more from investors. One such investor will be the state owned oil company Saudi Aramco with a proposed $100 million.

As related on the Neom website, the city is “Ideally located in the world. The region is located at the crossroads of the world Northwest of Saudi Arabia: 40 percent of the world’s population will be able to reach NEOM in less than four hours.” The website goes on to state, “NEOM is a bold and audacious dream. It is a vision of what a New Future might look like…It’s an attempt to do something that’s never been done before and it comes at a time when the world needs fresh thinking and new solutions.” But what exactly does that mean? It means a smart, clean city that is large enough to house more than a million people.

The Boston, MA based technological consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, has been supplying MbS with some ideas of grandeur to complete his mega smart city. Some of these ideas include an artificial moon, rain producing clouds, a robotic dinosaur park, 3D holographic school teachers, glow in the dark sand, and robots everywhere to take care of manual labor tasks. The technology for much of these ideas have not yet been invented so their reality is still questionable. However, some of the concepts that will be included into the city are already in use. These concepts are based off of drone technologies and they raise some concerns for many people.

One of these drone concepts will be self flying taxis to travel throughout the city. Though drone taxis are by no means a main stream accommodation, they do exist. Both Saudi Arabia and New Zealand have working drone taxis that have been in use for some time now. These autonomous taxis can fit 1-2 passengers and small carry on bags. They can transport people quickly as they do not need to follow roadway traffic. But in a city with only drones for travel, some sort of aerial travel regulation will need to be set. But, perhaps one of the most realistic uses for drones in Neom will be as a “Big Brother” eye in the sky.

The entire city of Neom will be under constant AI drone surveillance for security measures. MbS envisions Neom to be a crime free zone, and that is because every human action will be monitored by drones. Using drones as a surveillance tool is not a novel idea, it’s been in around for years now. It is a well known fact that certain governments use drones to spy on enemy operations. Some governments even openly use drones to spy on civilians. In the United States of America, the ACLU is often brought in to question the use of drones by police and emergency workers in an effort to protect civilian privacy laws. Today, to the best of the public’s knowledge, the police and government based drone programs in the US abide by all civil liberty regulations.

The city of Neom is not in the construction stages yet, originally MbS projected the city to be livable by 2030, but with the current state of the world that timeline will most likely change. Besides the concerns of drones invading resident’s privacy, there has been a lot of controversy as to the fact that approximately 20,000 people will have to be relocated before construction would commence, though representatives from Neom argue that these relocations will actually benefit the people being relocated. The idea behind Neom to be, “a new model for urban sustainability and be a place that is focused on setting new standards for community health, environmental protection and the effective and productive use of technology,” sounds like a utopian concept from the minds of Philip K. Dick or Aldous Huxely. Yet those stories of utopian societies always found a way to point to the flaws in a supposed society of perfection. It will surely be interesting to see how realistic of a utopia MbS is able to achieve.

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