Lakhasly

While many geographical studies analyze the real city as a quasi-virtual object which can only be measured in terms of statistical data and pixels, it can be salutary to treat an imaginary city as a real object, whose space is both lived and perceived by fictional characters.This is the case of The Line, which will be built in the Neom (Neo-Mustaqbal or New Future) perimeter, in northwestern Saudi Arabia (Figure 1) - an area chosen in 2016 by Crown Prince Mohamed Ben Salmane to become the embodiment of a major national transformation and modernization project known as Saudi Vision 2030.Yet, even if one chooses a "real" field, to what "reality" can the investigation lay claim (Musset, 2018)? In his work on cities in modern France, Bernard Lepetit has highlighted the need for the historian to put himself in the place of contemporaries in order to try to understand patterns of representation that are no longer ours because they obey categories that have evolved over time (Lepetit, 1988a). He has also shown that it is vain to look for a perfect adequacy between the historical analysis and its object, invoking both Magritte's painting which proclaims "This is not a pipe" (and for good reason, since it is only the representation of a pipe), and Zeno's paradox, whose theoretical arrow will never reach its target because it has to pass through all the points of a straight line composed of an infinite number of points (Lepetit, 1988b).

While many geographical studies analyze the real city as a quasi-virtual object which can only be measured in terms of statistical data and pixels, it can be salutary to treat an imaginary city as a real object, whose space is both lived and perceived by fictional characters. This methodological choice makes it possible to rethink the question of the work on representations that every researcher in the social sciences must do.
If the ultimate goal of a scientific inquiry is to twist the representations that alter the image of reality, working on a fictional city is seemingly a con. Yet, even if one chooses a "real" field, to what "reality" can the investigation lay claim (Musset, 2018)? In his work on cities in modern France, Bernard Lepetit has highlighted the need for the historian to put himself in the place of contemporaries in order to try to understand patterns of representation that are no longer ours because they obey categories that have evolved over time (Lepetit, 1988a). He has also shown that it is vain to look for a perfect adequacy between the historical analysis and its object, invoking both Magritte's painting which proclaims "This is not a pipe" (and for good reason, since it is only the representation of a pipe), and Zeno's paradox, whose theoretical arrow will never reach its target because it has to pass through all the points of a straight line composed of an infinite number of points (Lepetit, 1988b).
In fact, truth inevitably escapes study, even the most meticulous, because each study is the expression of a truth among many others. It can no longer claim to describe reality, nor can it be satisfied with objectively presenting the complexity of the filters that prevent it from reaching this reality. By recognizing his or her own limits, the researcher sets the limits of his or her object. It is the researcher's view and method that transforms it into a topic that is to say, into a problem. For the social sciences in general and geography in particular, no object is therefore more legitimate than another: it is the question posed that gives it meaning. This is also the position of Cynthia Ghorra-Gobin, a french geographer who has always worked on real cities, in France as well as in the United States: "But before familiarizing oneself with a
• 43% .
1
field and conducting surveys and interviews, it is important to formulate a few questions in order to conduct the investigation. In other words, it is important to place the object of study in its geographical context, based on questions relevant to social science research" (Ghorra-Gobin, 2022, p. 114).
In this perspective, whether the city is real or imaginary is of little importance, as long as the investigation makes it possible to put analytical tools to the test and to engage in a reflection on contemporary societies. This is why, at the crossroads between urban studies, geography and science fiction, we can also work on a city that does not yet exist. This is the case of The Line, which will be built in the Neom (Neo-Mustaqbal or New Future) perimeter, in northwestern Saudi Arabia (Figure 1) - an area chosen in 2016 by Crown Prince Mohamed Ben Salmane to become the embodiment of a major national transformation and modernization project known as Saudi Vision 2030.