Which would you prefer - Gelephu's simplicity or Neom's futuristic dazzle?

One beguiles with its simplicity and spirituality, where elephants saunter past day and night, while the other dazzles as the future on steroids, boasting robo maids and flying cars

The kingdom of Bhutan is planning a “mindfulness city” that will cover some 2.5 per cent of the country — an area larger than Singapore. Plans show the 1,000-square-kilometer city will be built near the town of Gelephu, along Bhutan’s southern border with India. The Gelephu Mindfulness City will serve as an economic hub and gateway for tourists to the rest of the country. Bhutan’s King Jigme Wangchuck said that his country is “not trapped by legacy and can innovate swiftly”. Bhutan’s largest city and capital, Thimphu, is just 26 square kilometres in size — so the new city is a big dream forward.

 

Gelephu Mindfulness City rethinks how modern cities ought to look, function, and serve the needs of their residents. The masterplan for the new dreamopolis shows a low- to-mid-rise metropolis built around a series of inhabitable bridges. Each bridge will “house” key features of the city: A new international airport, a university, a healthcare facility for Eastern and Western medicine, a hydroponic greenhouse, a cultural centre, a spiritual centre, a market for local goods, and a hydroelectric dam. The Sankosh Temple Dam will have staircases leading to an elevated temple, which many have likened to “a 21st century Tiger’s Nest”. The planned city will have 11 “ribbonlike neighbourhoods” that will incorporate the area’s 35 rivers and streams. Neighbourhoods will be designed like mandalas, with repeated patterns organised around a central public space.

 

To protect against flooding, paddy fields will be built along the rivers, “forming urban terraces that cascade down from the hills to the valley,” says the King. He also states: “These will further function as biodiversity corridors for local flora and fauna, leaving the migratory routes of elephants and other wildlife undisturbed.”

 

According to the King, Gelephu will be guided by Bhutan’s famed Gross National Happiness philosophy — “Mindfulness City is unique for prioritising not only economic development but personal wellbeing for every resident”. The project is estimated to cost $100 million.

 

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is also building a new city, Neom, in its Tabuk province, at the northern tip of the Red Sea. The total planned area of Neom is 26,500 square kilometres. Multiple regions are planned, including a floating industrial complex, global trade hub, tourist resorts, and a linear city powered by renewable energy sources. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s vision for the city incorporates some technologies that do not currently exist, such as flying cars, robot maids, dinosaur robots, and a giant artificial moon.

 

Neom would create around 460,000 jobs and add an estimated $48 billion to the country’s gross domestic product. The project cost for Neom is pegged at $1.5 trillion. Within Neom, The Line is planned as a linear smart city housed in a single building, designed to have no cars, streets or carbon emissions. According to the original plans, the single-edifice city will span 170 kilometres (110 miles), rise 500 metres (1,600 feet) high, and stretch 200 metres (660 feet) wide, accommodating a population of 9 million —roughly 25 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s 2022 population of 35.5 million. The Line will feature an entirely glass-mirrored exterior, with all basic services accessible within a five-minute walking distance.

 

So where would you rather be? Live on one of Gelephu’s inhabitable bridges where elephants will saunter past, be it day or night; or be homed in a never-ending building with flying cars and robot maids? Both new cities promise zero carbon emissions but their paths to that state of bliss couldn’t be more different. The Bhutan dream is anchored in its famed Gross National Happiness philosophy, with mandala inspired architecture and local sourcing of materials that don’t hurt or denude Mother Earth. Neom will have Aquellum, a “subterranean digitalised community of the future” that will “invert architectural principles to integrate with nature”. Described as an “upside-down skyscraper”, it will be built into a 450m-high mountain, with access from an underwater square! Robots will perform functions such as security, logistics, home delivery and caregiving.

 

To be honest, it is easy to be drawn to Gelephu’s apparent simplicity and spirituality. But Neom promises to be the future on steroids — “a land where the greatest minds and best talents will be empowered to embody pioneering ideas and exceed boundaries in a world inspired by imagination”. That vision has its own allure, as does Neom’s Trojena — the first major outdoor skiing destination in Arabia’s Sarat Mountains, with elevations ranging from 1,500 to 2,600 metres (4,900 to 8,500 feet) — a true miracle in the desert.

 

In 2025, both Gelephu and Neom merit a visit .

 

The author is chairman of Rediffusion