The cranes look almost delicate against the desert sky on a dusty afternoon in Jeddah. The concrete core of the future Jeddah Tower looks like a normal skyscraper that someone pressed “zoom” on and forgot to stop. Taxi drivers slow down to show it to you. During their breaks, construction workers take pictures of themselves. People on social media zoom in and out of the pictures, which show a needle of glass piercing the clouds from a height of one kilometre.
On the other side of the world, a young couple is looking at rental listings on a phone with a broken screen. The numbers don’t make sense. Like a mirage, the dream of “a small place of our own” keeps getting farther away.
The same world that can make a 1,000-meter tower out of sand can’t promise you a good roof over your head.
Something doesn’t feel right.
A kilometre up in the sky while people count their rent coins
There is a simple brutal contrast at the center of this story. While millions of people around the world can’t even get a foot on the housing ladder, Saudi Arabia wants to build the tallest skyscraper in the world. You don’t need a PhD in city planning to see how things aren’t working.
If the Jeddah Tower were finished, it would be about 1,000 meters tall. That’s about how tall three Eiffel Towers would be if they were stacked on top of each other. It is meant to be a shining example of ambition, with oil riches turned into glass and steel that go up and down.
But for many people watching from small apartments or childhood bedrooms, they never left, and it feels like a taunt.
Take a very normal story: a 32-year-old nurse in London who works nights and scrolls through real estate apps on the bus home. She makes more money than her parents ever did, but the cheapest studio still wants a deposit that would take her years to save, *if nothing goes wrong*.
She tells her friends that she will always be “the flatmate aunt.” But the joke is getting old. Her salary doesn’t go up as fast as rents do. Mortgage rates go up a lot. The apartments she used to think about buying are now “investment products” for people she’ll never meet.
A sponsored post shows up on her Instagram feed. It’s a sparkly video of Saudi Arabia’s huge projects, like the one-kilometer spire. High-end shopping malls. Villas in the sky. Shots from a helicopter. She taps it twice, almost as a joke, and keeps scrolling.
This is the split screen of our time. On one side, countries are competing to have the tallest, shiniest, and most famous skyline. On the other hand, regular people are fighting with their landlords over a broken heater or trying to figure out if they can afford a second child in a two-room flat.
The leaders of Saudi Arabia say that projects like the Jeddah Tower will make the economy more diverse and bring in business and tourists. A huge sign to show the world that they’re more than just oil. Some people think it’s a monument to inequality, a shiny distraction while basic rights and everyday problems stay unsolved.
The truth is that a kilometre of glass doesn’t mean that people can live in homes that are made of glass.
The world splits: awe, anger, and strange questions
When people talk about Jeddah Tower, you can hear three very different tones. A few people are amazed. They talk about how people have made progress, how smart engineers are, and how exciting it is to “push limits.” They share pictures of their kids the same way other people do.
Some people are really angry. People who are stuck in expensive studios and run-down social housing see the tower as a middle finger. A sign of a system that always has money for high-profile projects but never for basic needs.
Then there is the quieter group, which is stuck between admiration and discomfort and is trying to hold both feelings at once. That’s where most of us call home.
When you look at the numbers next to each other, the unease grows. People have said that the Jeddah Tower will cost more than a billion dollars, and that number could go up if there are delays or changes to the design. That’s not even counting the larger area and infrastructure that will be needed to support it.
Now think about the housing problems in big cities. In Los Angeles, tens of thousands of people sleep in cars, on sidewalks and in camps. Because the city center is now a luxury postcard, workers in Paris have to drive two hours each way to get to work. In a lot of places, a good one-bedroom costs half a salary.
We’ve all been there, when you look at the rent for the month and wonder if people who built the system never had to worry about it.
Politically, Saudi Arabia’s mega-tower is part of a bigger risk. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants to turn the country into a powerful place in the future. NEOM in the desert, huge projects along the Red Sea, entertainment cities, and now this huge rise in Jeddah.
Supporters say that big, almost crazy projects get people around the world interested, make jobs, and speed up change in a conservative society. Critics ask: who will get jobs, who will get homes, and who will make progress? They are worried about working conditions, the cost to the environment, and what will happen when the cameras go away.
Let’s be honest: no one really thinks that building to the clouds will suddenly fix what’s wrong at ground level.
What can you do when the skyline seems rigged?
It’s easy to feel small when you see something like this. The tower is made to make you feel that way. But there are real actions you can take to bring the conversation back to your level.
Begin in your area. Find out who really owns the buildings near you. A lot of cities now share information about big landlords, how many vacant homes there are, and who owns businesses. That information changes how you talk about rent and who you put pressure on.
After that, take it a step further and join a tenant association, a housing collective, or even a neighbourhood WhatsApp group that talks about more than just missing cats. One person’s complaint doesn’t usually change the balance of power in the housing debate. It moves when a lot of people tell stories.
One common mistake is to become completely cynical. You read about mega-projects that are going to fail, laugh bitterly at pictures of vertical forests in the desert, and say over and over that “nothing will change anyway.” That numbness makes sense, but it helps keep things the way they are.
Selective engagement is a better way to respond. You don’t have to become an activist right away. You can start by being more honest with your friends, voting with housing policies in mind, and asking politicians uncomfortable questions when they talk about “iconic” buildings instead of neighbourhoods that are easy to live in.
And if you feel bad about worrying about your own housing stress while skyscrapers are going up in the desert, don’t. Your fight is not small. It’s the front line.
A European city planner told me recently, “We are building monuments to our engineering ego,” while “treating affordable housing like a side project.” One day, we’ll wonder how we got our priorities so wrong.
Find out where the money goes.
When a city, state or country announces a big project, check the budget for social housing or rent help at the same time. If you can’t find it, that silence is an answer in itself.
Listen to what the workers have to say.
There are real people pouring concrete, wiring lifts and cleaning glass behind every futuristic render. More than any fancy ad, their pay, safety, and living conditions show you how ethical a project is.
Protect boring, livable projects
News stories about social housing, co-ops, and small renovations don’t happen very often. But these “unsexy” programs are the ones that quietly stop thousands of people from falling through the cracks.
Tell us about your own housing journey.
It used to be taboo to talk about rent, debt, or being locked out of ownership. Breaking that silence shows patterns that politicians and developers can’t ignore for long.
A tower that shows what we care about
The Jeddah Tower is still being built, and no one knows how tall it will be or when it will be done. In a way, that makes it an even better symbol: a promise that is only half-finished and a huge “coming soon” sign on the horizon. It doesn’t just split people. It makes you think.
What does a society think is a good thing? Is it the luxury apartments and sky-lobbies that touch the clouds, or is it a generation quietly saying, “I can finally afford a stable home”?
The one-kilometer goal of Saudi Arabia is not an isolated event. It’s part of the same way of thinking that makes cities into assets, homes into products, and skylines into competitions. That’s why people who are far away from Jeddah feel like the news affects them personally. The tower is far away, but the emotional echo is close: “If there’s money for this, why isn’t there enough for us?”
Maybe that’s the real problem this project shows. Not between the East and the West, the rich and the poor, or the liberals and the conservatives. But there are two groups of people: those who see housing as a basic need and those who see it as just another place where height, spectacle, and profit always win.
The world will keep making things taller. The main question is if we can still build fairly.
| Important point | Information that is useful to the reader |
|---|---|
| Symbol versus reality | The 1km Jeddah Tower shows how ambitious the country is, but many people can’t afford basic housing.Helps you figure out the emotional stress you feel when you see big projects while you’re having trouble with your own housing. |
| Housing as a place to fight | Rent prices are going up, speculation is happening, and wages are staying the same in global cities, which makes it hard for regular people to buy a home.It helps you understand your own problems by showing that they are part of a bigger, shared pattern. |
| Action every day | Local organising, asking budget questions, and defending “boring” housing projects can change what is most important.Gives you useful ways to respond instead of giving up and being cynical. |
Questions and Answers:
Is Saudi Arabia really building a skyscraper that is 1 km tall?
Yes. The goal of the Jeddah Tower project is to reach about 1,000 meters. If it is finished, it will be the tallest building in the world. There have been delays and restarts in the construction, but the goal is still to build a landmark that is a kilometre high on the Red Sea coast.
Question 2: How does this tower fit into the global housing crisis?
They don’t have a direct connection in the budget, but they are part of the same way of thinking. States and investors give a lot of money and attention to high-profile projects, while regular housing is seen as a cost to cut down on. That difference makes people who can’t get into decent homes even more frustrated.
Question 3: Can big projects like this still help regular people?
They can create jobs, build new infrastructure, and sometimes even push for reforms. The most important thing is distribution: who gets the jobs, who can live or work there, and who has long-term security? Without good social policies, the benefits often stay at the top.
Question 4: Why do countries keep building skyscrapers that break records?
Part pride, part marketing, part business plan. A tower that breaks records shows power and modernity, draws in tourists and investors, and puts a city on the world map. That kind of thinking can make quieter but more important investments in public housing and services seem less important.
Question 5: What can I really do about the rising cost of housing?
You can’t change housing policy on your own, but you can join tenant groups, back candidates who care about affordable housing, push for more information about who owns what, and talk about your own situation. The debate slowly changes because of small steps taken by thousands of people.
