Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 448 posts

Re: End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

#61

Post by Simon_ORourke »

delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #43

The only thing the Gulf states have going for them is oil money and a good hub location on the Europe–Southeast Asia airline routes. Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Bahrain, Qatar, they all remind me of that quote from King of the Hill—they are monuments to man's arrogance. Desert cities hitting 50+ °C air temperature at midday which means air conditioning everywhere; vapid luxury in the form of expensive garish cars, shop…

> local chiefs who oppose stupid and unrealistic white elephant vanity projects are executed.

Let's not gloss over the absolutely appalling respect many of these societies have for human dignity. Public executions and flogging, discrimination and imprisonment based solely on gender, absolutely zero regard for freedom of conscience when it comes to matters of religion.

There's only so much you can get away with by saying it's my society's accepted practice, what's wrong is wrong. And there's plenty wrong with other countries and societies too, including my own, but it doesn't excuse human rights indifference.

Re: End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

#63

Post by yard2010 »

neglesaks wrote: post #28
chipdart wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Indeed, there is a reason for the saying "what comes around, goes around". Perhaps it's just me, but I don't see scaling down a project as karmic retribution for murder.

Who says that this scaling-down is the last word in the matter?

That is what is convenient about Karma: it's not over until you win

Re: End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

#64

Post by dragonwriter »

namaria wrote: post #41
Teever wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but I wonder is who signed off on this? Like, were they duped into it, or is it part of some bigger scheme? What is that scheme?

No one "signs off" on an absolute monarch's design.

> No one "signs off" on an absolute monarch's design.

Its not the monarch's design, its the prime minister’s (the PM is also the heir; which is also a break from earlier tradition, as previously the monarch was also PM.)

Though at the time of the design, MBS wasn't PM, the King was still PM, and MBS was Crown Prince (as he remains) and First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.

Re: End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

#65

Post by arethuza »

leoedin wrote: post #56
gherkinnn wrote: post #19

The whole idea of a linear city is daft. A circle is way more efficient at getting around. The dimensions of the Line are, of course, silly as well.

Yeah, I'm really struggling to understand why a linear city is appealing. I suppose if you set a hard limit of one train line in your city, then building it along that train line might make sense. You'd spend a lot of time on that one train line though - and I imagine in the central bits it would get really really busy as people are trying to get to the other end. And what happens if that train line breaks? Making a…

"I'm really struggling to understand why a linear city is appealing"

Probably because it looks cool in CGI renderings and nobody else has one, for reasons that are probably becoming apparent to all involved.

Re: End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

#66

Post by yard2010 »

theGeatZhopa wrote: post #23

That comes unexpected. I really would like to see how this works out. It's a possible way of living in the future. If the earth becomes more fiendly, such cities would offer autonomous compounds for the people. Now i would like to know if somebody is building the ARCs ...

Let me tell you something about the middle east Habibi.. Everything here is a ruse.

Re: End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

#67

Post by dkdbejwi383 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #58
mamonster wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Abu Dhabi does not belong in the list with the other ones. It has been extremely well run since Zayed bin Sultan and will probably transition quite well to a post oil future.

> Abu Dhabi does not belong in the list with the other ones. It has been extremely well run since Zayed bin Sultan It's also governed differently from the others in being an oligarchy. That requirement for consensus-building and internal variation creates robustness; it gave Dubai the room to experiment, for example, with religious moderation. It's not a view I hold too seriously. But I remember visiting the Emirates…

> the British were, in their time, far better at nation building than we've been in the post-War era

who does "we" refer to? The Dutch? France?

Re: End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

#68

Post by yard2010 »

delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #43

The only thing the Gulf states have going for them is oil money and a good hub location on the Europe–Southeast Asia airline routes. Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Bahrain, Qatar, they all remind me of that quote from King of the Hill—they are monuments to man's arrogance. Desert cities hitting 50+ °C air temperature at midday which means air conditioning everywhere; vapid luxury in the form of expensive garish cars, shop…

What's the obsession with phalic towers? I would think letting toxic masculinity rule everything would result in less dicks everywhere but it is the other way around?

Re: End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

#69

Post by [deleted] »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #58
mamonster wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Abu Dhabi does not belong in the list with the other ones. It has been extremely well run since Zayed bin Sultan and will probably transition quite well to a post oil future.

> Abu Dhabi does not belong in the list with the other ones. It has been extremely well run since Zayed bin Sultan It's also governed differently from the others in being an oligarchy. That requirement for consensus-building and internal variation creates robustness; it gave Dubai the room to experiment, for example, with religious moderation. It's not a view I hold too seriously. But I remember visiting the Emirates…

[deleted]

Re: End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

#70

Post by dkdbejwi383 »

keiferski wrote: post #32
gherkinnn wrote: post #19

The whole idea of a linear city is daft. A circle is way more efficient at getting around. The dimensions of the Line are, of course, silly as well.

Is that actually true from a transportation physics perspective? I can’t imagine that a curved tram/train/etc. would be able to accelerate and decelerate as efficiently as one on a straight path.

Acceleration etc wouldn't really matter if I live at one end of the line and my friend lives at the opposite end. It would be an annoyingly long journey that stops at every single other station in the entire city.

In a regular city that grows outwards, you'd expect there to be circumferential routes as well as cross-city routes connecting various points, making the travel time more bearable.

Post reply on HN