The Smart City-Line in Saudi Arabia: Issue and Challenges

Abstract

As a futuristic emblem, smart cities represent a goal to provide all of the services required for a high-quality existence while conserving natural resources to the maximum extent possible. It turns out that the "Line City in Saudi Arabia" is the most famous and modern of these smart cities in terms of preserving 100 percent natural life, owing to the fact that they rely totally on natural energy and do not use any automobiles. The issues and challenges that have been highlighted will assist in the improvement of municipal management. One of the most generally implemented projects in the field of smart cities is the technological and integrative developments of the use of sensors and data collecting in conjunction with rising difficulties aimed at enhancing human well-being and improving human livelihood. This is especially true in Saudi Arabia, where visitors can arrive quickly by just walking through the checkpoints, resulting in a journey of little more than a few minutes to reach any regular destination. It also splits the city into many different levels of the ground, enabling for the conservation of natural excess energy.

The important factors of Saudi Arabian policymaking in renewable energy resources

“…Furthermore, AI technologies can improve energy efficiency and renewable energy integration in a smart city and create cost-effective and environmentally friendly solutions for the city. Upon completion, the city will create thousands of jobs for Saudi Arabia's residents and diversify the country's economy [51].…”

Transformation Model towards Sustainable Smart Cities: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as a Case Study

“…Furthermore, sustainable smart city needs smart citizens who participate, interact and benefit from new technologies at the level of the city of Riyadh, allowing them to participate in all aspects of smart life. Therefore, sustainable smart cities idea in Riyadh may face the challenge of citizens' lack of awareness and knowledge of communication technologies, which will affect the functioning of the city in terms of electronic governance and smart city management (Al-Sayed et al, 2022). In this regard, Alqahtany & Aravindakshan (2022) also mentioned that smart cities face a number of economic and social challenges, similar to government initiatives, represented by population and economic demand for increased urbanization, user behavior, conflicting and information and communication systems in various aspects of life, which contributes to facilitating the daily lives of the population and raising the level of quality of services in various sectors.…”

Saudi Arabia’s NEOM Project as a Testing Ground for Economically Feasible Planned Cities: Case Study

“…Nevertheless, the existing city management and urbanization research can be partially applied to NEOM and similar planned cities by accounting for their unique conditions and characteristics [8]. To ensure that The Line sub-project satisfies all the requirements for becoming a sufficiently adjusted environment for new residents, planners are expected to account for pollution risks, technological risks, environmental risks, economic risks, and others [29]. The list is not exhaustive because urbanization is a process associated with largely unpredictable challenges that are yet to be explored on the scale of Saudi Arabia's NEOM.…”

“…Based on the available data, the ambitious plan to rely on 100% renewable energy sources is likely to be achievable with the help of current technologies and proposed investments [46]. Moreover, the installation of solar power plants and other renewable energy projects associated with this goal do not create significant sustainability risks due to the availability of suitable conditions in the surrounding desert [29]. Regional carbon neutrality is likely to become achievable with the help of wind and solar plants supplemented by large-scale battery energy storage systems that ensure optimal energy production [40].…”