Challenge: In 2021, prior to the formal establishment of the NEOM Heritage Department, the region’s rich archaeological landscape required a cohesive strategy to balance preservation with the ambitious urban and infrastructure developments underway. The challenge was to design a comprehensive approach that would protect NEOM’s historical and cultural heritage while enabling sustainable progress, aligning with its vision for future urbanism.

Solution: As one of the leaders of this initiative, I collaborated with a multidisciplinary team of archaeologists, planners, and cultural experts to create a strategic framework for archaeology in the NEOM region. This included:

• Preventive Archaeology: Developing protocols to identify and safeguard heritage sites before construction activities began, minimizing risks to irreplaceable cultural assets.

• Rescue Archaeology: Establishing methodologies for salvage excavation and documentation when heritage sites were impacted by development projects.

• Long-Term Archaeology: Creating a sustainable plan for ongoing exploration, research, and preservation to ensure NEOM’s historical legacy would remain an integral part of its future identity.

• Collaborative Expertise: Working with leading figures such as Dr. Samer Saleh from King Saud University in Riyadh and Dr. Guillaume Charloux from France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) to incorporate regional and international perspectives into the strategy.

• Archaeological Handbook for Urban Planners: Producing a companion guide for urban planners, integrating archaeological considerations into the planning process to foster collaboration between development and preservation teams.

Outcome: The archaeology strategy became a foundational component of NEOM’s commitment to heritage preservation, achieving:

• Proactive Preservation: A clear roadmap for balancing urban development with the protection of cultural heritage.

• Cross-Disciplinary Integration: Seamless integration of archaeological protocols into urban planning workflows, ensuring heritage considerations were embedded in the project’s DNA.

• Global Recognition: Positioning NEOM as a leader in innovative approaches to heritage management within large-scale development projects.

Impact: The strategy not only protected NEOM’s rich archaeological landscape but also set a precedent for how future urban developments could harmonize progress with heritage. This initiative demonstrated how strategic foresight, collaborative expertise, and human-centric planning can shape a vision that honors the past while building for the future.

This case underscores my ability to lead multidisciplinary teams, craft innovative strategies, and create tools that empower collaboration between diverse fields, ensuring that heritage and progress coexist seamlessly.