What makes this a suitable post?
Dubai: How not to build a city
11–20 of 28 posts
Re: Dubai: How not to build a city
#12What makes this a suitable post?
Interesting topic. Uninteresting article. Problematic trap.
Re: Dubai: How not to build a city
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I don't really know the details of Dubai's labor situation, but aren't they also there voluntarily? I know laws are different in the Middle East, but I thought slavery was still illegal in the UAE.
Re: Dubai: How not to build a city
#14Wasn'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.
not sure I understand the comparison between Paris/NY/Tokyo and Dubai...?
Re: Dubai: How not to build a city
#15What makes this a suitable post?
What makes this an interesting comment?
Someone posts your same urgent insight on every tenth story that makes the front page... Come on folks, please read the guidelines:
"Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or egregiously offtopic, you can flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did."
Re: Dubai: How not to build a city
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, but those immigrants had a better life and more opportunity in America than their homeland. They came and stayed voluntarily.
I don't really know the details of Dubai's labor situation, but aren't they also there voluntarily? I know laws are different in the Middle East, but I thought slavery was still illegal in the UAE.
If you're laid off or fired, and you owe money, you will be stopped at the border from leaving. It takes about a week for the notification from your employer to get into the financial system, which is why many westerners drive to the airport and leave their cars in the parking lot with the keys in them - never to return to Dubai.
Re: Dubai: How not to build a city
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't really know the details of Dubai's labor situation, but aren't they also there voluntarily? I know laws are different in the Middle East, but I thought slavery was still illegal in the UAE.
If you're laid off or fired, and you owe money, you will be stopped at the border from leaving. It takes about a week for the notification from your employer to get into the financial system, which is why many westerners drive to the airport and leave their cars in the parking lot with the keys in them - never to return to Dubai.
That doesn't sound all that different from turn-of-the-century America, where debtors were often forced to work for their creditor until the money was paid off. I guess the difference is that now it seems like everyone's a debtor, but if you choose to live by the standards someone from a century ago, you have much more freedom and purchasing power, not less.
(Seriously, when did living debt-free go out of style? If my grandparents wanted something big like a summer home, they saved for it, they didn't go out and get a mortgage.)
Re: Dubai: How not to build a city
#18What makes this a suitable post?
What makes this an interesting comment? Someone posts your same urgent insight on every tenth story that makes the front page... Come on folks, please read the guidelines: "Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or egregiously offtopic, you can flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; t…
Yeah. I read them and occasionally re-read them when I start thinking that the explanation for WTF these stories make it to the front page might be that the criteria have changed.
Re: Dubai: How not to build a city
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
What makes this an interesting comment? Someone posts your same urgent insight on every tenth story that makes the front page... Come on folks, please read the guidelines: "Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or egregiously offtopic, you can flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; t…
Yeah. I read them and occasionally re-read them when I start thinking that the explanation for WTF these stories make it to the front page might be that the criteria have changed.
You can improve your experience without polluting the comments.
Consider writing a greasemonkey script that filters domains that contain content that you don't want to see, then share the script with the community.
Re: Dubai: How not to build a city
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're laid off or fired, and you owe money, you will be stopped at the border from leaving. It takes about a week for the notification from your employer to get into the financial system, which is why many westerners drive to the airport and leave their cars in the parking lot with the keys in them - never to return to Dubai.
That doesn't sound all that different from turn-of-the-century America, where debtors were often forced to work for their creditor until the money was paid off. I guess the difference is that now it seems like everyone's a debtor, but if you choose to live by the standards someone from a century ago, you have much more freedom and purchasing power, not less. (Seriously, when did living debt-free go out of style? If m…
The difference is that in America's history employers worked in good faith (aside from slavery). In Dubai (and to some extent, China) migrant workers are defrauded and deceived by their employers out of their rightfully due pay.