A massive project is underway to turn an air base in Saudi Arabia’s desert capital into a public green space four times the size of New York’s Central Park. It’s one part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s grand vision to transform Riyadh — one of the world’s most sprawling, car-dependent and water-poor cities — into a paragon of sustainability, in response to rising temperatures.

Prince Mohammed also wants to overhaul the economy in a bid to double the city’s population in ten years, in part by making the city as enticing to foreigners as Dubai. Skeptics abound, of course, as Saudi Arabia struggles to ease its dependency on oil and automobiles. But some local urban planners remain hopeful the project will see at least some success with the full support of the monarchy, Bloomberg’s Vivian Nereim reports. Today on CityLab:  Saudi Arabia Wants Its Capital to Be Somewhere You’d Want to Live

-Josyana Joshua

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What we’re reading

• Democrats’ $2 trillion spending plan in political peril as talks between Biden, Manchin appear to hit snag (Washington Post)
• Our shopping obsession is a boon to box makers, but not to their neighbors (Time)
• Pritzker opts for saving Thompson Center (Chicago Sun Times)
• How powerful is Big Oil? Just ask Regina city council (Canada’s National Observer)
• Boston pilot project finds free transit increases ridership (Next City)