Saudi Arabia’s NEOM has been marketed as a bold vision of the future, often described in language that suggests a fresh start on empty desert land. But that portrayal is facing renewed scrutiny as attention turns to the area’s much older human story.
The land in north-west Saudi Arabia was not a blank space before the megaproject. The region has a long past, shaped by communities that lived there well before NEOM became a global symbol of futuristic development. That history complicates the project’s image as a place free from the burdens of what came before.
At the center of the controversy are the Huwaitat communities, whose displacement has become one of the most serious and sensitive issues linked to NEOM. Critics argue that the project’s promise of innovation and transformation cannot be separated from the human cost tied to clearing land for construction.
The debate around NEOM now reflects a larger question about how major development projects are framed. While the city is promoted as a model for what comes next, its story is also becoming one about memory, belonging, and the consequences of treating historically inhabited land as if it were empty.
