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Egypt unveils plans to build new capital east of Cairo

bbc.com

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Re: Egypt unveils plans to build new capital east of Cairo

#21

Post by speeder »

ta81818 wrote: post #15
rwmj wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely if there was a revolution, the other parts of the territory could simply ignore Brasília?

Yeah, this is the part of the argument I don't understand... why do you need to control the government buildings? Just declare new ones. It's the guns that you need to control to own a country.

Well, if the guns are controlled in the capital, how you control them yourself?

Many revolutions that worked, worked because the people in the capital physically wrested control, power is a funny thing, many people that have real power (example: the army soldiers, that actually have the guns with them), prefer the status quo unless it is very clear something changed (example, the soldiers might obey some rebels if the rebels kill and replace part of the chain of command).

Re: Egypt unveils plans to build new capital east of Cairo

#22

Post by speeder »

unchocked wrote: post #11
Apocryphon wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a government wanted to relocate during unrest, couldn't they simply retreat to a loyalist military base? Would be cheaper than building another city.

Very bad optics. Surviving revolutions requires a show of strengths, and retreating to a military base is very much a sign of weakness.

Also as in Brazil case, the government consider that the biggest threat is the military itself (to the point it created recently another quasi-military organization completely separated from the military, it left the main military bases VERY FAR from the capital, and built those new "quasi-military" bases near the capital).

Re: Egypt unveils plans to build new capital east of Cairo

#23

Post by TeMPOraL »

mitchi wrote: post #7

I didn't know some countries could still play Sim City. A tunisian friend was talking to me about the same thing. A new coastal city, big investments coming in, we make this city a center for investments, arts, technology, finance. Well... Good luck. It's more likely to end up empty, like a big mall or expensive appartments no one can afford.

> I didn't know some countries could still play Sim City.

I wish more countries would - at least cities wouldn't be "designed" by bunch of developers fighting against each other for cash, building tons of useless buildings, destroying parks and public spaces. Cities I know could use some order and effective design.

Re: Egypt unveils plans to build new capital east of Cairo

#24

Post by stefantalpalaru »

Apocryphon wrote: post #8
mitchi wrote: post #7

I didn't know some countries could still play Sim City. A tunisian friend was talking to me about the same thing. A new coastal city, big investments coming in, we make this city a center for investments, arts, technology, finance. Well... Good luck. It's more likely to end up empty, like a big mall or expensive appartments no one can afford.

You'd expect China or the booming Gulf States to do something like this. Irrational exuberance.

They do: http://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-ghost-cities-in-2014-2...

Re: Egypt unveils plans to build new capital east of Cairo

#25

Post by frik »

crdoconnor wrote: post #2

Well, this is why Burma did the exact same thing (anybody who casts their memories back a few years might see how this relates to Egypt): >Naypyitaw, then, is the ultimate insurance against regime change, a masterpiece of urban planning designed to defeat any putative ‘colour revolution’ – not by tanks and water cannons, but by geometry and cartography. 320 kilometres to the south, Rangoon, with five million people,…

Top Gear Burma special:

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uwTnP8ioiU

Empty 20 lane highway in the [Burma] nation's brand new capital.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-r..., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gear_(series_21)

@downvoters: what's wrong? watch the video it's rather on-topic and interesting!

Re: Egypt unveils plans to build new capital east of Cairo

#26

Post by agumonkey »

mitchi wrote: post #7

I didn't know some countries could still play Sim City. A tunisian friend was talking to me about the same thing. A new coastal city, big investments coming in, we make this city a center for investments, arts, technology, finance. Well... Good luck. It's more likely to end up empty, like a big mall or expensive appartments no one can afford.

Sometimes big is all needs to be. People will come for novelty. It may suck energy from surrounding places, drying them, becoming the new center.

Re: Egypt unveils plans to build new capital east of Cairo

#27

Post by agumonkey »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #23
mitchi wrote: post #7

I didn't know some countries could still play Sim City. A tunisian friend was talking to me about the same thing. A new coastal city, big investments coming in, we make this city a center for investments, arts, technology, finance. Well... Good luck. It's more likely to end up empty, like a big mall or expensive appartments no one can afford.

> I didn't know some countries could still play Sim City. I wish more countries would - at least cities wouldn't be "designed" by bunch of developers fighting against each other for cash, building tons of useless buildings, destroying parks and public spaces. Cities I know could use some order and effective design.

I was a bit resentful of the ideas behind urban design and architecture, then two weeks ago I found this on imgur (http://imgur.com/gallery/4FuyX/comment/373343373):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AYE3w5TWHs (skip to the second half)

It seems a creative, yet more balanced environmentally and humanly, way to conceive buildings (and in the large, cities).

Re: Egypt unveils plans to build new capital east of Cairo

#28

Post by [deleted] »

speeder wrote: post #21
ta81818 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, this is the part of the argument I don't understand... why do you need to control the government buildings? Just declare new ones. It's the guns that you need to control to own a country.

Well, if the guns are controlled in the capital, how you control them yourself? Many revolutions that worked, worked because the people in the capital physically wrested control, power is a funny thing, many people that have real power (example: the army soldiers, that actually have the guns with them), prefer the status quo unless it is very clear something changed (example, the soldiers might obey some rebels if th…

[deleted]

Re: Egypt unveils plans to build new capital east of Cairo

#29

Post by bobsky »

616c wrote: post #20

You can use Google translate to read Egypt Today's "New Administrative Capital in the NUmbers" piece, as well as see design pictures for those interest. http://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/679047 I believe it has English pages. I still stick to pre-revolution oppo media, so Egypt Today (Almasry Alyoum) and the Constituion (Ad-dostour) "original", not the new one that was bought out and sold out. I hope the Egyp…

The official homepage is here http://thecapitalcairo.com/index.html

Re: Egypt unveils plans to build new capital east of Cairo

#30

Post by mahmoudhossam »

616c wrote: post #20

You can use Google translate to read Egypt Today's "New Administrative Capital in the NUmbers" piece, as well as see design pictures for those interest. http://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/679047 I believe it has English pages. I still stick to pre-revolution oppo media, so Egypt Today (Almasry Alyoum) and the Constituion (Ad-dostour) "original", not the new one that was bought out and sold out. I hope the Egyp…

Almasry Alyoum and al dostour aren't as good as they used to be, they run the same crap the others do.

The new kid on the block is mada masr http://www.madamasr.com/, much more credible than the old opposition media these days.

The key is following the writers, the outlets are easier to change than people.

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