Green Utopias or Desert Illusions: Sustainability in Gulf Megaprojects

Across the Persian Gulf Countries, a new generation of sustainable megaprojects are emerging. Qatar’s cities, such as Lusail, are rising from the desert, aiming to diversify the economy away from oil and toward foreign capital. Likewise, The UAE is undertaking an experiment that develops a sustainable urban corridor making the city more human-centric. In Saudi Arabia, NEOM is the boldest vision of all, a multi-trillion dollar new metropolis built from scratch including advanced technologies, complete renewable energy, and innovative living environments such as The Line, a single linear settlement designed to have no roads, cars, or carbon emissions.

These projects reflect a trend in which states, especially those with substantial sovereign wealth, use urban design as a tool of nation-building, global visibility, and economic transformation. Sustainability has become the primary language through which these ambitions are articulated – a way to signal readiness for a post-oil future. However, beneath the futuristic marketing lies a deeper paradox: the pursuit of “green” modernity through highly resource-intensive construction in some of the world’s most fragile desert ecosystems. Gulf governments seek to reconcile rapid development with ecological responsibility, yet these same processes often reproduce the very environmental and social constraints they claim to solve. Resultantly, the Gulf’s new megaprojects reveal not only a regional shift toward sustainability but also the tension between spectacle and substance in the quest to redefine urbanism in the desert.

The Promise of Sustainable Futures

Each of these projects, including NEOM in Saudi Arabia, Lusail city in Qatar, and the UAE Green Spine present themselves as a model for sustainable living. These ideas promote futuristic skylines backed by renewable energy sources, free of pollution or congestion (Tomlinson, 2020). NEOM's line, imagines an area with no roads, cars or emissions, aims to run entirely on renewable energy and preserve ninety-five percent of land for nature. People’s health and well-being will be prioritized over infrastructure, contrary to traditional cities (The Line, 2025. Similarly, Lusail promotes itself as Qatar’s first “green city”, boasting electric trams and smart water management systems. Likewise, the Dubai Green Spine proposes to plant over a million trees creating a sixty-four kilometer green corridor with solar energy and walkable public spaces.

Together, these megaprojects represent the initiatives of these countries to re-invent their image as a post-oil, knowledge-based economy while sustaining the current economic growth. Such infrastructure are physical manifestations of eco-modernism, the belief that technology and design can reconcile economic progress with environmental management. However, these sustainable initiatives also serve a political function. Indeed, these megaprojects communicate technological leadership, demonstrating that oil-rich monarchies can participate in the energy transition. Thus, reducing their dependence on oil as part of their identity

Environmental Contradictions and Ecological Costs

While the renderings of these mega projects promise an idealistic, utopian future, their realization brings about contradictory points. Despite the idealism of these projects, their construction possesses a variety of constraints. While NEOM promises Carbon-neutrality, its purported benefits are offset by ecological destruction in the Tabuk Province. Specifically, NEOM’s promise of zero-carbon living co-exists with the massive environmental disruption in the Tabuk province. The project’s construction requires an immense quantity of concrete and steel, materials which are responsible for nearly fifteen-percent of global carbon dioxide emissions collectively. NEOM’s desalination plants, which are expected to produce over 1 million cubic meters of water per day, could generate large amounts of brine waste that threaten the Red Sea’s marine ecosystems. In addition, the forced displacement of the Huwaitat tribe highlights a social cost that undermines NEOM’s goal of sustainable progress.

Similarly, Lusail City was built on reclaimed coastal land that caused damage, specifically coral habitats, with over 1,500 coral colonies being relocated. Although marked as an energy efficient and water-smart city, Lusail remains dependent on intensive cooling systems and imported materials which offsets its sustainability gains (Kahramaa). 

Sustainability as Spectacle and Power

Beyond their material construction, gulf megaprojects function as aesthetic technologies of modernity. Their hyper-futuristic architecture operates as instruments of soft power – strategically projecting an image of progress and global integration that counters criticism over human rights abuses. NEOM is not just a city but a symbol for Saudi Arabia’s 2030 vision and Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman’s drive to reshape the kingdom’s global image. During the 2022 World Cup, Lusail city demonstrated how sustainability discourse can merge with soft power, allowing Qatar to assert itself as an innovative and environmentally cautious nation. Meanwhile, Dubai’s Greenline Spine fits Dubai’s Vision 2040 to develop leisure areas to deliver a healthy environment to residents and visitors while branding itself as a global hub of sustainable innovations.

However, Gulf states risk turning sustainability into a marketing device rather than an ethical principle. Behind the impressive visuals lies migrant labor systems and carbon-intensive construction methods, concealing the social inequalities embedded in these projects. These contradictions call for a rethinking of what sustainability truly means in the Gulf context—beyond spectacle and symbolism toward a more ethical and locally grounded approach.

Rethinking Sustainability in the Desert

While the Gulf's megaprojects expose the contradiction between spectacle and sustainability, they also pose a major question: what might true sustainability here be? Real environmental stewardship would be not building entirely new megacities but remaking existing city systems—reducing consumption, improving resource use, and collaborating with local ecological sensibilities. Traditional Gulf architecture, for instance, relied on passive cooling, shaded narrow streets, and wind towers to take advantage of natural ventilation. Depending on such vernacular solutions, in combination with renewable technology, could yield culturally derived as well as environmentally appropriate sustainability.

Besides, smaller-scale efforts towards community resilience, water efficiency, and renewable energy integration may prove to be more enduring than large-scale developments. Instead of evaluating progress in iconic architecture, Gulf states might set an example by embracing adaptive sustainability—specifically urban planning that responds to the demands of desert life rather than attempting to overwhelm them.

References

George, R., Tomlinson, B., & Livingston, B. (2020, October 14). The rise of Gulf Smart Cities. Wilson Center. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/rise-gulf-smart-cities  

Kahramaa District Cooling Services Department, c2e2.unepccc.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/08/kahramaa-district-cooling-services-department.pdf. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025. 

“The Line.” A Revolution in Urban Living, www.neom.com/en-us/regions/theline. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.