Dezeen Weekly 9 October 2026

Why Saudi Arabia's wild giga-project The Line failed

The world's most wildly ambitious architecture project appears dead in the water. What went wrong? Listen to the latest episode of Dezeen Weekly now.

This week, the team plot the strange story of Saudi Arabia's effort to build a linear skyscraper, mega-city in the desert, called The Line.

They explain why news that Neom Stadium has been shelved looks to be the final nail in the coffin for The Line, and debate the ethical implications for architecture studios that worked on the extraordinary and controversial project.

Dezeen Weekly artwork is by Simon Volt. This episode was edited by Calum Lindsay. 

Dezeen Weekly is an original Dezeen podcast in which our journalists talk about the key design and architecture stories of the week. Listen to the latest episode using the player above or on your favourite podcast app, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts.