Saudi Arabia to build world’s first non-profit city

Saudi Arabia plans to build the world’s first non-profit city, in a move that it hopes will propel the Kingdom to the forefront of urban innovation.

Announced by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman yesterday, the city “will contribute to achieving the goals of Misk Foundation in supporting innovation, entrepreneurship and qualifying future leaders by defining non-profit work in its internal operational concept and in terms of opportunities and youth training programs it will provide.”

He added that it will “provide services that contribute to creating an attractive environment for all beneficiaries of the city’s offerings.” Those services include “academies, colleges, ‘Misk Schools,’ a conference centre, a science museum and a creative centre offering a space to support the ambitions of innovators in sciences and new generation technology.”

It will also host “an arts academy, art gallery, a performing arts theatre, a play area, a cooking academy and an integrated residential complex. In addition, the city will host venture capital firms and investors to support and incubate innovative enterprises to drive community contributions from around the world.”

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Besides those facilities, the city will be centred around humans rather than vehicles, and is designed to cater to pedestrians. It will reportedly be constructed with sustainable development in mind, with 44 per cent of its total area being allocated for open green spaces.

The city—named after the Crown Prince as the ‘Prince Mohammed bin Salman Non-profit City’—will be built in the Irqah neighbourhood in the western part of the capital Riyadh, over an area of around 3.4 square kilometres. That land has reportedly been dedicated by the Crown Prince.

Specific details such as its planned completion date and funding have yet to be released in the coming months, but it is predicted that it will primarily be enabled by the Crown Prince’s organisation, ‘Misk.’ Through that non-profit organisation, bin Salman has focused on numerous projects over the years, mainly catered towards Saudi youth and innovation.

The non-profit city is the latest major project and development to be announced by the Kingdom, with others such as the megacity, NEOM, currently also being constructed and set to be completed by 2030.

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