The Saudis, it is fair to say, are not known for doing things by halves.
A skyscraper a kilometre tall and a futuristic megacity the size of Belgium complete with its own artificial moon are just some of the megaprojects currently under construction in the country.
The Kingdom has long been synonymous with large-scale building projects, so much so that the crane has become an unofficial national symbol.
But it has now embarked on what could be its most ambitious project yet – taming the heat in Riyadh, its sprawling capital, by turning the desert green.
The objectives are to bring down temperatures, which get close to 50 degrees in the summer, and slash the city’s air-conditioning bill by reversing course on decades of outdated urban planning.
They plan to plant seven-and-a-half million trees across the city and build numerous new parks and green spaces including one four times the size of Hyde Park. A new irrigation system using treated wastewater is being developed, and the building code is being rewritten taking inspiration from traditional local architecture to make new homes more energy efficient.
Much is riding on the project’s success – making Riyadh a more appealing place to live to tempt in expats and foreign investment is a cornerstone of Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman’s efforts to overhaul the country’s image and diversify the economy away from oil.
And with millions of people suffering from extreme heat in cities around the world – increasingly relying on environmentally disastrous air conditioning – the lessons Saudi Arabia learns could be vital to averting the worst effects of climate change in the coming decades.
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