The building of Saudi Arabia’s new financial district, which was begun under one political reality, had its first phase completed under a new one. Will its glass domes and car-less streets be a secular, consumerist gated paradise, a place so apart that it can issue visas at its airports? Or will history intercede on the present, the confluence of government and religion presenting it with a new reality? If it’s the latter, Dubai may stand to gain, as explained in a brief Economist piece.

The opening:

THE skyscrapers of the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) rise out of Riyadh’s urban sprawl like an emerald city. Pointed glass spears compete for prominence with vast staggered lean-tos, streaked black-and-white like the back of a rearing zebra. A monorail curves past a butterfly dome. Blissfully vehicle-free in a city otherwise designed for cars, not people, KAFD is built around pedestrian precincts shaded by palm trees. Even the rubbish is collected on an underground conveyor belt. After seven years, the first phase of a futuristic financial hub for the Arab world’s largest economy is nearly complete. It has cost more than $10 billion and the lives of 11 building workers.

Something is missing, however. While decorators install tropical plants in the conference hall, the legal, fiscal and cultural architecture is still on the drawing board. Waleed Aleisa, the CEO, says he is still waiting to hear whether the zone will be free of corporation tax and under what jurisdiction it will operate.•