They should legalize gambling but they will never do that.
It worked for Vegas.
The imported labor are essentially slaves. The raw sewage dumped into the Ocean is also a turn off.
Don’t know about “super cities” but I’ve been to Dubai and it is a very interesting....and impressive...city.
Alcohol is available to westerners. They don’t have it in abundance like we do, but it can be had.
Reclaiming and filling shorelines to build structures is nothing new. Manhattan Island did it when the age of sailing ships ended and they didn’t need to dock 1000 boats. So they filled it in and built warehouses and lofts. They are now mostly housing units with commercial zones. They have recently built a bunch of new high rises to sell the view of the Hudson Bay and New Jersey, including one that may never get finished because they tried some new engineering and didn’t build deep down to the bedrock so it’s sinking and tilting. It’s tall and a narrow to fit on the small lot Ratios are way out of whack for height vs width.
Some of these ME projects are luxury and vanity, like the jetties shaped like palm trees with expensive houses which I think you referenced. Each house may have its own dock. It’s obviously not for the common man. There may be some townhouses. But those are luxury areas. They are built out from the main older cities so you can get in and out and around.
The Saudis have imho one of the most ridiculous concepts - “the line” - conceptually to be a something close to 100 miles long, 200 feet wide and only 1500 feet high. It’s like a livable great wall of China. Supposedly it will have housing and shopping and an indoor rail line. People don’t need to leave, nor would they want to because it’s in the middle of a desert. It’s not really connected to any other metro area except maybe by road and rail. A narrow, short and very long self contained city to house 9 million people. Supposedly now projected to cost $1 trillion (double the initial estimates) and growing in budget. They started phase one, but I’m not sure it will ever get completed anything close to what they conceived. It sounds completely unappealing. There is something to the idea of building a brand new planned modern city, but the harsh environment makes it rough. Since people would basically never go outside in the 120 degree heat, I would think maybe a grid design or concentric circles with crisscrossing indoor trams to get around. All digital I presume, so getting groceries could be delivered. Going to a shopping or dining social district would be by tram. Parks, pools, entertainment all indoors. But if it’s located 100+ miles from any other city it would be basically a destination you rarely leave. Kind of like those massive hotels in Vegas only 500 times bigger.