Neom/Nature: Regreening and Sociotechnical Imaginaries in Saudi Arabia

This article analyzes Saudi Arabia's regreening efforts through Neom, a conglomeration of urban development currently being built in the northwestern corner of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As one of several subsidiary organizations under Neom, Neom Nature aims to regreen and rewild an area roughly the size of Belgium. The project will serve as both a recreational space for Neom's estimated population of several millions and part of a wider regreening strategy under the Saudi Green Initiative launched by in 2021, comprising environmental protection, energy transition and sustainability programs. Drawing on publicly available plans and public relations material from Neom Nature, as well as interviews with members, this article analyzes the sociotechnical imaginaries of man, nature, climate change and technology that underpin the project. In the context of Saudi reforms, climate change, and green technological transformation globally, the article's inquiry is twofold. First, it investigates how Saudi public/private environmental institutions interpret environmental history; and second, what role the past plays for their imaginaries of the environmental future in Saudi Arabia and globally.