What’s Happening: Saudi Arabia is seeking to overhaul its image and poor human rights track record with gargantuan giga-projects spanning 105-mile-long horizontal skyscrapers and the world’s tallest buildings. Will it work?

The Download: In 2008, billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal of Saudi Arabia revealed ambitious plans for the Jeddah Tower, the first skyscraper intended to reach the height of 3,281 feet. The record-breaking supertall is slated to become the crown jewel of Jeddah Economic City, a sprawling urban oasis envisioned as the country’s very own Dubai. Nearly 15 years later—and six years after its projected opening date—only one-third of the tower is complete, drawing comparisons to North Korea’s hulking “Hotel of Doom.”

The skyscraper is perhaps the most visible symbol of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s high-stakes scheme to overhaul Saudi Arabia’s economy and poor international reputation through dozens of “giga-projects” on a $719 billion budget. As part of the Saudi Vision 2030 plan, the country has conceived a multitude of mammoth developments purported to reshape its oil-based economy into one that attracts international tourism dollars. On the cultural front, Desert X AlUla attracted major art-world figures and the new Saudi-backed golf league LIV enticed some of the sport’s marquee names with exorbitant contracts.

The proposals are mind-bogglingly large in scale. In the country’s remote Tabuk Province, a desolate arid region bordering the Red Sea, a 10,230-square-mile swath of desert land has been earmarked as the site of Neom, a megacity described as a “high-tech semi-autonomous state.” If all goes as planned, the city will build twin 1,640-foot-tall skyscrapers that stretch horizontally for dozens of miles. Inside, denizens will supposedly coexist with “robotic avatars and holograms,” fusing the digital and physical worlds into a new type of metaverse. Other projects include Octagon, a city on water and potentially the world’s largest floating structure; Trojena, a world-class wellness complex with a ski slope and interactive nature reserve; and the King Salman Airport, a so-called “aerotropolis.”

The projects have their fair share of detractors, but precedent may be the most powerful. Scattered across Saudi Arabia are traces of mega-projects intended to galvanize the economy but now sit practically desolate. Among these is King Abdullah Economic City, inaugurated more than a decade ago on the picturesque Red Sea coast 70 miles north of Jeddah. Original plans projected two million people would live there by 2035; its population now sits at 7,000. Like-minded initiatives promising to upend urban life—Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia’s Forest City—have suffered a similar fate.

There are also questions about who these projects intend to serve. Authorities razed 32 neighborhoods over the past year to make room for similar mega-developments, namely Jeddah Central Project, a 2.2-square-mile swath of luxury high-rises, hotels, and parks planned for the city’s southern reaches. Some estimate one million people—mostly working-class migrants who settled in Jeddah after making the pilgrimage to Mecca—were forcefully evicted, sparking backlash from human rights groups. Rents have soared due to increased demand for apartments, causing many citizens to flee.

So far, the results seem to contradict marketing videos that suggest developments like Neom will serve everyone “from laborers to billionaires.” Observers fear the effect will yield Disneyland-like communities that simply act as profit generators for the government but are walled off from the public and lack the pulse of a traditional city. Whether or not the experiment succeeds, however, remains to be seen. Neom’s completion date keeps getting pushed back and the frozen Jeddah Tower lacks a fleshed-out timeline.

In Their Own Words: “Our cities are now being built by bankers,” an anonymous Jeddah-based architect told the Los Angeles Times. “They’re capitalist cities of the first order. Before those neighborhoods were destroyed, you’d walk around them and know they’re real. They pulsed with life. It’s not sterile like a mall.”

Surface Says: Maybe a Crown Prince–sanctioned rave will put skeptics at ease.

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A highly anticipated launch of wallets from Telfar, the New York–based fashion label with an avid cult following, sold out within five minutes. Creative director Babak Radboy said the wallets were made in 17 colors and were intended to be available for longer than the brand’s bags, which famously sell out quickly. Thousands of the leather wallets, which are priced at $144 and come in colors from black and bubblegum to seafoam green, were sold, and are now appearing on resale site StockX for $1,500.

Telfar is known for its inclusivity and the loyal community supporting Liberian-American founder Telfar Clemens, who grew up in Lefrak City, Queens. When mass retailer Guess was accused of hawking copycats of Telfar’s signature tote, the social media backlash was swift. “We’re the only brand of our scale that’s Black-owned—like really Black-owned, no investors or entanglements—so our community is just us,” Radboy told WWD. And the community has much to look forward to: “Our plans are for Telfar TV to launch original content and do with the clothes what we’ve done with accessories. Telfar is not a bag company.”

Habitas Caravan Agafay is a new eco-luxury escape with a Berber-meets-bohemian aesthetic, swimming pools looking out at the Atlas Mountains, and a vibey music program.

Location: Agafay Desert, Morocco

Designer: Habitas

On Offer: A mere 45-minute drive from the Marrakech medina’s splendid frenzy, the Burning Man–inspired Habitas hospitality group has scattered 20 canvas-wrapped accommodations across more than 12 acres of undulating desert. Set beneath the stunning peaks of the High Atlas mountain range, Caravan Agafay will serve as a gateway to the eco-leaning brand’s future Moroccan properties including one slated for the windsurfer’s paradise of Dakhla on the Río de Oro Peninsula in the Western Sahara. Though unabashedly geared towards millennial travelers—especially the cozy Explorer tents decked out with vibrant Moroccan carpets and embroidered poufs—any guests nostalgic for sleep-away days will dig the Berber-meets-bohemian aesthetic.

With news that the preeminent Indian architect died at the age of 95, we’re revisiting some of his greatest buildings. From city planning to residential interiors, Doshi’s projects helped bring Modernism to India and embody underlying humanist ideals perhaps best articulated by the Pritzker Prize jury, which awarded him the accolade in 2018: “[Doshi] has always created architecture that is serious, never flashy or a follower of trends,” noting his “deep sense of responsibility and a desire to contribute to his country and its people through high-quality, authentic architecture.”

At Hav & Mar, Black creativity is on the menu. Opening his first New York City restaurant in seven years, chef Marcus Samuelsson picked a 5,000-square-foot expanse in one of Chelsea’s most famous buildings, the 1931 polygonal landmark known as Starrett-Lehigh. “Our hope,” Samuelsson says, “is that Hav & Mar is a reflection of Black joy and excellence.” Designed by Montreal firm Atelier Zébulon Perron, Hav & Mar is named after the Swedish word for “ocean” and the Amharic word for “honey.”

Samuelsson assembled a distinguished culinary team to join him: executive chef Rose Noël, who comes from DC’s Maialino Mare; head baker Farheen Jafarey, fresh from Samuelsson’s famed Red Rooster in Harlem; and the Wythe Hotel’s Rafa Garcia Febles to oversee a beverage program highlighting female producers of color. The team’s multicultural background ranges from Ethiopian and Haitian to Pakistani and Swedish, a diversity that shows up on the seafood-focused menu, from dawa dawa seared bass and corn-wrapped snapper to berbere-cured salmon.

Achille Salvagni leads his eponymous, multidisciplinary, and award-winning architecture and design firm with offices in Rome, London and New York. In 2013, Salvagni founded Achille Salvagni Atelier, a studio devoted to the production of his limited-edition furniture and lighting. Though an avowed modernist, Salvagni’s work consistently bears the weight of history—not in overt references, but in his material richness, impeccable craftsmanship, and deeply layered narrative, resulting in work that’s philosophical and romantic.

Surface Says: One of the most versatile designers working today, Salvagni wields a passion for quality and craftsmanship that takes the lead in every project, from sumptuous apartments in Rome and an eponymous line of clean-lined furniture to his award-winning yacht interiors.

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