New plans unveiled for Oman’s upcoming smart city

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), an architectural powerhouse based in the United States, has pulled back the curtain on their groundbreaking blueprint for an upcoming smart city endeavor in Oman. All gears are set to be in motion for the commencement of construction next year.

The initial stretch is mapped out to span until 2030. The early focal point entails the birth of the city nucleus, sprawling across an expanse of five square kilometers. This same period will also witness the materialization of six distinct neighborhoods out of the 19 envisaged within the project’s scope.

 

🔴Sultan Haitham City is a visionary project that represents a legacy for the future, gifted to the youth by His Majesty the Sultan. It is the first smart city in Oman and serves as a blueprint for upcoming urban developments. The city fosters inclusivity and accessibility,… pic.twitter.com/xkdlEHWMGQ

— omaspire (@omanspire) June 1, 2023

As big as Beverly Hills

The contours of this urban expanses are projected to encompass a terrain spanning approximately 15 million square meters . Located within the Al-Seeb district of Muscat, the cityscape will include over 2.9 million square meters of public spaces. Designed to welcome a population of 100,000, a portfolio of 20,000 new residences of varying dimensions and styles is expected to define the city’s skyline, interwoven with an urban mobility network that sprawls across 14.8 million square meters.

A noteworthy facet of SOM’s vision involves a transformation of an existing 7.5-kilometer-long wadi, a dry riverbed, that meanders through the site, which Oman is hoping to breathe new life into this natural channel and exploit its potential.