Extreme Developments

[d8alterego]

I'm sure most UPers have heard of the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and their crazy developments, but it wasn't until today that I actually discovered how insane they are. Ironically, you would think that these developments that they are undertaking would occur on American soil (since we love everything bigger and better) rather than in the Middle East, but they are. Even in a small and resource deprived nation such as the UAE they are thinking big and progressive (well, at least construction-wise).

Fellow UPers, I give you: The World

When I first saw this website, I immediately thought of the environmental impact it could have on marine life. It appears that, contrary to what I assumed, the sea life is actually proliferating (according to the website). Obviously I'm not going to trust all the words of a giant developer, but that's an interesting claim they're making. Anyone else have an opinion? What's also amazing are the "moldable sand islands" that can be recreated by the property owners.

Are there any other developments in the works that are being built that I don't know of? I've heard of the Bering Strait Bridge between Alaska and Russia and the NYC to London underwater Atlantic tunnel (both are obviously far-fetched), but how close have any of these projects come to realization?

Now I know that this has nothing to do with GR, but I thought this would be a great opportunity to discuss this extreme development and others.

Some pics off of google:

[Allison Slater]

So....

Who wants to buy Michigan?

[GRDadof3]

[googlevid]6179432634249787416[/googlevid]

[Veloise]

So....

Who wants to buy Michigan?

[Mark Miller]

I watched something on 60 minutes about this a few months ago. In addition to this stupidity, they also have an indoor ski slope plastered right in the middle of the 100 degree desert.

I believe that this represents the wastefulness, stupidity, shortsighted, out of touch world that we live in today - although this is probably one of the most extreme cases.

The good news is that none of this is sustainable and it will revert to its natural conditions someday. The bad news is the amount of resources consumed and the amount of environmental degradation that this represents and of course all the poverty that still remains in the world while crap like this gets built.

But to go back to the original question, which I believe to be a very good one that should be asked and asked loudly.

Extreme developments are all relative. But the bottom line is that they are most likely not sustainable in a world that needs to (and will eventually have to) stop creating artificial conditions that are based upon the consumption of fossil fuels.

Las Vegas comes to mind. Actually any developments within the desert SW fall into the category of extreme development. Nothing at a large scale is sustainable there.

The Southeast may be proving to be unsustainable, at least at the current population levels and excessiveness. The governor of Georgia is now praying for rain, instead of trying to figure out alternative growth patterns that will lessen the extreme weather patterns that are causing the draught (typical of current American thinking- just hope and pray and wish upon a star and it will all get better) - too much Disney, I guess.

There are different levels of extreme ranging from the outlandish craziness of Dubai to the simply stupid building of suburban big boxes and even M6.

This all needs to change and change now.

[Montague]

Didn't someone try a purchase about a year ago? On a Tuesday.

:snork:

[GRDadof3]

The Southeast may be proving to be unsustainable, at least at the current population levels and excessiveness. The governor of Georgia is now praying for rain, instead of trying to figure out alternative growth patterns that will lessen the extreme weather patterns that are causing the draught (typical of current American thinking- just hope and pray and wish upon a star and it will all get better) - too much Disney, I guess.

[d8alterego]

Actually any developments within the desert SW fall into the category of extreme development. Nothing at a large scale is sustainable there.

[jwazzz]

I'm sure most UPers have heard of the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and their crazy developments, but it wasn't until today that I actually discovered how insane they are. Ironically, you would think that these developments that they are undertaking would occur on American soil (since we love everything bigger and better) rather than in the Middle East, but they are. Even in a small and resource deprived nation such as the UAE they are thinking big and progressive (well, at least construction-wise).

Fellow UPers, I give you: The World

When I first saw this website, I immediately thought of the environmental impact it could have on marine life. It appears that, contrary to what I assumed, the sea life is actually proliferating (according to the website). Obviously I'm not going to trust all the words of a giant developer, but that's an interesting claim they're making. Anyone else have an opinion? What's also amazing are the "moldable sand islands" that can be recreated by the property owners.

Are there any other developments in the works that are being built that I don't know of? I've heard of the Bering Strait Bridge between Alaska and Russia and the NYC to London underwater Atlantic tunnel (both are obviously far-fetched), but how close have any of these projects come to realization?

Now I know that this has nothing to do with GR, but I thought this would be a great opportunity to discuss this extreme development and others.

Some pics off of google:

[d8alterego]

This... is... insane...

It turns out that Dubai is so obsessed with itself that they are even competing with themselves! They haven't even finished the last tallest structure in the world, the Burj Dubai, and they are already planning another. For being such a small country with such a small population (that I'm figuring is poor), that's a lot of pricey real-estate to be building. As GR Town Planner mentioned, this is an insane way to use resources.

I give you:

the Nakheel Tower and Harbour

[radicaljoy]

One of my favorite places to eat is the Selam store on Michigan. The owner is from Eritrea, which I knew almost nothing about. It's fascinating. Eritrea was an Italian colony under Mussolini and they built some fantastic Art Deco buildings in the capital city, Asmara, during that period. NYTimes had an article in the travel section titled "Recalling La Dolce Vita in Eritrea" on Oct. 5. which says this about Asmara: "The city itself is a showcase for some of the world's boldest, most whimsical examples of 1930's Art Deco architecture, perfectly preserved by the thin desert air."

I don't want to violate copyright laws or UP terms, so am not posting URL's or photos. If you're interested use the search engine of your choice.

[tamias6]

This... is... insane...

It turns out that Dubai is so obsessed with itself that they are even competing with themselves! They haven't even finished the last tallest structure in the world, the Burj Dubai, and they are already planning another. For being such a small country with such a small population (that I'm figuring is poor), that's a lot of pricey real-estate to be building. As GR Town Planner mentioned, this is an insane way to use resources.

I give you:

the Nakheel Tower and Harbour

[snoogit]

Whats hurting Dubai is it's backwards mentality.

If you're going to produce all this hot stuff, and not expect the sinful behavior to follow, you'll kill yourself trying to handle it all.

[joeDowntown]

You obviously know nothing about Dubai or the wealth of the population. While I agree that Dubai oozes excess, to "figure" the country is poor is totally inaccurate.

Dubai is also the regional hub for most Western business trying to tap that market. It's a boomtown that is not just there because a bunch of oil baron's will it to be. There is *REAL* commerce going on.

Joe

This... is... insane...

It turns out that Dubai is so obsessed with itself that they are even competing with themselves! They haven't even finished the last tallest structure in the world, the Burj Dubai, and they are already planning another. For being such a small country with such a small population (that I'm figuring is poor), that's a lot of pricey real-estate to be building. As GR Town Planner mentioned, this is an insane way to use resources.

I give you:

the Nakheel Tower and Harbour

[suydam]

You obviously know nothing about Dubai or the wealth of the population. While I agree that Dubai oozes excess, to "figure" the country is poor is totally inaccurate.

Dubai is also the regional hub for most Western business trying to tap that market. It's a boomtown that is not just there because a bunch of oil baron's will it to be. There is *REAL* commerce going on.

Joe

[d8alterego]

Now I may not have been to Dubai or the UAE recently, but from what I have read, the income disparity is wide. My conclusion that the country is poor was just an over-simplication (sorry if that was unfair to some), one that seems pretty accurate according to these sources:

According to the CIA World Factbook:

Population (2008 July estimate): 4,621,399

Population below poverty line (2003): 19.5%

Unemployment (2001): 2.4%

If I calculated this right, roughly 901,172 people are possibly below the poverty line (using 2003 poverty statistics with 2008 population estimate). Even with old unemployment data, a 1 or 2% rate currently would still add 46,213 (1%) or 92,427 (2%) more poor people to the mix. So it seems nearly a million people of the 4.6 million UAE citizens are below the poverty line or unemployed.

In a 2006 NYTimes article it states:

"Far from the high-rise towers and luxury hotels emblematic of Dubai, the workers turning this swath of desert into a modern metropolis live in a Dickensian world of cramped labor camps, low pay and increasing desperation." It also goes on to state, "Of the 1.5 million residents of Dubai, as many as a million are immigrants who have come here to work in some capacity, with the largest subgroup being construction workers, said Hadi Ghaemi, a researcher with Human Rights Watch who covers the United Arab Emirates, citing government statistics."

Look, my point that I was trying to make was not that the people of the UAE are poor, just that it was insane to be building all of these expensive buildings when they were being sold to foreigners. Again, a waste of resources.

You obviously know nothing about Dubai or the wealth of the population. While I agree that Dubai oozes excess, to "figure" the country is poor is totally inaccurate.

Dubai is also the regional hub for most Western business trying to tap that market. It's a boomtown that is not just there because a bunch of oil baron's will it to be. There is *REAL* commerce going on.

Joe

[d8alterego]

Here's something a little closer to home: NYC's first rotating/twisting skyscrapper.

It looks like how the "AllSpark" in Transformers miniaturizes. That would be an interesting building in downtown GR. Residents in the hotels/condo towers would have some spectacular views.

[tamias6]

Now this is an Extreme Development. Saudi Arabia is home to the world's largest Chuck E Cheese. Its 2 stories, and 60,000 sq. ft of cheesiness.

Webpage

[jbr12]

Taken from SkyScraperForum.

Still has ~100m left to go I believe....

[GR Jackson]

Taken from SkyScraperForum.

Still has ~100m left to go I believe....

[d8alterego]

I get the feeling that Dubai won't be on an extreme building spree anytime soon. It would appear that their economy is collapsing rather quickly. For all its showiness and glitter, Dubai seems to be devolving into a nightmare. I love this part the best:

"No one knows how bad things have become, though it is clear that tens of thousands have left, real estate prices have crashed and scores of Dubai

[jbr12]

One good thing in Dubai is that the World's Tallest Building has been topped out (Last month sometime) at the final height of 818m (~2,684 ft). Defintiely an amazing feat regardless of where you stand on the rest of the ridiculous that is known as Dubai.

Image from Imre on Skyscraperpage

Just to get a sense of scale.... those high rises surrounding the Burj Dubai are taller then Riverhouse.