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.

At the heart of the vision is a 1,600 by 660-foot skyscraper called The Line, initially meant to span the entire 105-mile length of the city and accommodate a population of nine million people.

And to call it a megalomaniac pipe dream would be an understatement. The outside of the wall-like city was meant to be entirely covered by a mirrored finish that reflected the surrounding desert — and feature a 30-story building hanging from a bridge.

As the Financial Times reports in an extensive and revealing new feature, the sci-fi vision has since collided with reality at full force. Much of the constructio

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