Not long after being appointed crown prince by Saudi Arabia’s royal family in 2017, Mohammed bin Salman announced an enormous construction project for a futuristic linear city called Neom. As the Financial Times reports in an extensive and revealing new feature, the sci-fi vision has since collided with reality at full force. Even a previously revised plan of constructing just seven modules, enough to house 300,000 to 500,000 people, was met with skepticism. Even the hanging 30-story building, which experts told the newspaper makes no sense, is still in the plans. “I think as a thought experiment, great,” a Saudi Arabia-based urban planning expert told the FT. “But don’t build thought experiments.”More on The Line: Saudi Arabia’s 100-Mile Skyscraper Is Turning Into a Disaster