Dubai: How not to build a city
thestar.com
Dubai: How not to build a city
1–10 of 28 posts
Re: Dubai: How not to build a city
#2Wasn't it just a year ago that Dubai was held up as a shining example of modernity in the Arab world? The future of cities in this interlocking global economy? Its reliance on tourism and finance was lauded because everyone knew that oil in the Persian Gulf would eventually run out. And a lot of people I know wanted to go to Dubai (my sister actually wanted to be spend a year working overseas there) just to check it out.
Dubai's problem is that they've built an economy that's almost entirely pro-cyclical. Tourism does well when the economy booms, but dries up when it busts. Finance does well when the economy booms, but blows up when it busts. So it's no wonder that in the biggest downturn in 80 years, Dubai's economy is hurting.
But that doesn't mean that Dubai's an example of how not to build a city, any more than Silicon Valley or Detroit are examples of how not to build a city.
Re: Dubai: How not to build a city
#3[deleted]
Re: Dubai: How not to build a city
#4Dubai is a city built on the backs of maltreated migrant workers. There is little glamour for these mainly South East Asian workers who earn $1 a day. The difference in lifestyles between the labor camps these workers live in (people literally living out of massive shipping containers) and the fast cars, over-sized houses that expats own couldn’t be any greater. The companies that bring the migrant workers over have been accused of purposely forcing them to stay in the UAE by misplacing their passports and delaying salary payments. The UAE has also had its human rights record heavily criticized by the UN and human rights organizations. So despite lavish expat lifestyles and impressive urban growth, there are plenty of non-economic reasons why Dubai is an example of how not to build a city.
Re: Dubai: How not to build a city
#5Wasn't it just a year ago that Dubai was held up as a shining example of modernity in the Arab world? The future of cities in this interlocking global economy? Its reliance on tourism and finance was lauded because everyone knew that oil in the Persian Gulf would eventually run out. And a lot of people I know wanted to go to Dubai (my sister actually wanted to be spend a year working overseas there) just to check it…
our icons of today are our counter-examples of tomorrow.
Moreover I think the list of counter-examples bout cities is full, thank you everybody: Brasilia, Valparaiso, Paris, New York, Tokyo, etc., now Dubai. Maybe now is time to resurrect Christopher Alexander's spirit (I just checked, he is medically alive) and look at what is good and why it's good.
Re: Dubai: How not to build a city
#6Dubai is a city built on the backs of maltreated migrant workers. There is little glamour for these mainly South East Asian workers who earn $1 a day. The difference in lifestyles between the labor camps these workers live in (people literally living out of massive shipping containers) and the fast cars, over-sized houses that expats own couldn’t be any greater. The companies that bring the migrant workers over have…
Couldn't the same thing be said for NYC? Look at living conditions in a turn-of-the-century NYC tenement, and you'll be appalled. Millions of immigrants arrived with literally nothing except the clothes on their backs and toiled for pennies a day so the fat cats could have their mansions on 5th avenue. Yet most people don't say that NYC is an example of how not to build a city...
Re: Dubai: How not to build a city
#7Wonder if the architects considered the "ruin value" of what they were constructing. May become relevant sooner than anyone would wish.
Re: Dubai: How not to build a city
#8Wasn't it just a year ago that Dubai was held up as a shining example of modernity in the Arab world? The future of cities in this interlocking global economy? Its reliance on tourism and finance was lauded because everyone knew that oil in the Persian Gulf would eventually run out. And a lot of people I know wanted to go to Dubai (my sister actually wanted to be spend a year working overseas there) just to check it…
For me, the city looks like if they were trying to build already complete adult human, then turn it on and hope it will live, without having to be born and then grow up to that form. Which is something I'm quite afraid of, because it usually works badly.
Re: Dubai: How not to build a city
#9One thing is striking: An AMERICAN (I ssume) says thatcity built for driving. I am afraid to even imagine when a guyfrom have-a-car-or-starve-because-of-no-foodstores-in-walkable -distance country make such statatements, what a place it is.
Re: Dubai: How not to build a city
#10Dubai is a city built on the backs of maltreated migrant workers. There is little glamour for these mainly South East Asian workers who earn $1 a day. The difference in lifestyles between the labor camps these workers live in (people literally living out of massive shipping containers) and the fast cars, over-sized houses that expats own couldn’t be any greater. The companies that bring the migrant workers over have…
Couldn't the same thing be said for NYC? Look at living conditions in a turn-of-the-century NYC tenement, and you'll be appalled. Millions of immigrants arrived with literally nothing except the clothes on their backs and toiled for pennies a day so the fat cats could have their mansions on 5th avenue. Yet most people don't say that NYC is an example of how not to build a city...
Yes, but those immigrants had a better life and more opportunity in America than their homeland. They came and stayed voluntarily.