Dubai Mega Mall Inspired By Nature

[Nautica]

What's your beef with Dallas, man? If you had stated Boston or Atlanta, I could probably agree but Dallas is relatively easy to get around and most of their developments are pretty sound.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by The North One

There's nothing to be jealous of, Dubai is a city planned worse than Dallas or really any city in the world for that matter. Monolithic mega towers line a fucking mega highway. And here we have yet another tacky mega mall, so jelly! It's easy, painfully easy to see why an urbanist would detest Dubai.

Their entire system is obviously propped up by oil money which is highly volatile, nobody wants to invest there long term since they're still in the political/social dark ages, many of their new built towers sit empty. Where is the jealously supposed to kick in here?

Again, your post shows you really don't know what you are talking about. You are talking about just Sheik Zayed Rd. And even on that road, it has more foot traffic on the sidewalks than downtown Dallas.

No its not built on oil money. Do you even listen to people or just go on with myths that sound good in your head?

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by Nautica

What's your beef with Dallas, man? If you had stated Boston or Atlanta, I could probably agree but Dallas is relatively easy to get around and most of their developments are pretty sound.

He's the most delusional forumer to date. He is so fixated on Detroit that hate breeds for everywhere but Detroit. He is quite negative about every part of this country that isn't in SE Michigan.

[Nautica]

Probably from the suburbs.

[JAYNYC]

Originally Posted by Nautica

What's your beef with Dallas, man? If you had stated Boston or Atlanta, I could probably agree but Dallas is relatively easy to get around and most of their developments are pretty sound.

I agree - Dallas is a bad example of poor planning. It might be dealing with growing pains (excessive traffic, escalating COL) due to the metro's recent population explosion, but all things considered there are plenty of cities that would have been a more sensible reference.

[Truthisgone]

Originally Posted by The North One

There's nothing to be jealous of, Dubai is a city planned worse than Dallas or really any city in the world for that matter. Monolithic mega towers line a fucking mega highway. And here we have yet another tacky mega mall, so jelly! It's easy, painfully easy to see why an urbanist would detest Dubai.

Their entire system is obviously propped up by oil money which is highly volatile, nobody wants to invest there long term since they're still in the political/social dark ages, many of their new built towers sit empty. Where is the jealously supposed to kick in here?

Yeah, you just sound really ignorant. The part of Sheikh Zayed Road you're talking about is one business district out of many. Those business districts are nodes in a much larger contiguous urban area. Saying no one wants to invest is like saying no one wants to invest in New York. It's just nonsense. Just because you don't understand the culture doesn't mean you should hate a place. People are people everywhere and every culture/place has bad apples.

[Truthisgone]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

I've actually thought about this for some time. I think people fall into a variety of catagories:

Some hate it because its gaudy and almost like Vegas in its fakeness.

Some hate it because it lacks traditional urbanity. But as you mentioned, they probably have never taken the subway to the older parts of the city which have more streetlife than any American city besides NYC would envy.

Some hate it because of the traditional view that its an oil center and all that that entails(fossil fuels, acelerating global warming etc.). But this doesn't hold up well, as very very little of its economy is based on oil.

Some hate it because of its conservatism. If you are hating on Alabama or Georgia because of recent laws, you probably won't like Dubai. In fact, you might be a hyprocrite if you did like Dubai.

Gay folks- Can't blame them. Although gays get around Dubai fine(I shared a hotel with a gay guy two nights in a row), the very fact that there are laws against homosexuality could turn off people entirely.

Near-slave labor- I've talked with many of these people. They know what they are getting into going to Dubai. So why do they still do it? It beats being unemployed in India or Pakistan.


I think what most of these people miss, is that yes, there are real concerns in the city, but there are so many nice parts to it. It has the traditional city streets full of people, it has one of the most modern metros in the world, beautiful beaches, absolutely mind-boggling skyscrapers, which yeah, minus some of the ill-conceived ones, would make anyone in the US happy to see get built in their city. Its not for everyone, but the near universal hate for it on here is rather confusing to me.

I'd agree with all your points. I don't get the "fake" view so many people hold though. What's fake? Just because it's new? Asinine argument. That would mean Paris was fake after Haussmann's renovation. But now it's not? Dubai is simply a product of the day and age. (Again, with a large, functioning, lived in "old town" with structures dating from the 18th century.). The big ben tower's bad but that's really the only "fake" thing I can think of.
I also think you're right about the fact people reactively hate it because of political reasons. I'm gay. I obviously like it. That doesn't mean I have to agree with everything. What it does mean is while I'm there I have to respect their culture for what it is. I choose to see the positive. Which leads to a rewarding experience in my opinion. I'm sure many here would be shocked to know there are many positive things about Islamic culture. Hating a place because of its culture is hypocritical to the max when we have so many problems.
Really, all these people should withhold their judgement until they actually go there and see all areas of the city.

[bnk]

Originally Posted by SLO

Looks like the Wonka chocolate factory mated with downtown Disney...

I thought Wonka too. That thing is so gaudy it would make even the Chinese blush.

[edale]

I think a lot of people hate Dubai because it seems like a completely artificial city that has sprung up out of seemingly nowhere, and has made a name for itself by over the top, gaudy developments. They built a mall with an indoor ski slope in it, for god's sake. They use essentially slave labor to build these crazy developments, and have zero concern for human rights. It's a city in the desert with lakes and fountains, and is totally unsustainable. They built a collection of islands in the shape of a map of the globe...need I continue? It's tacky, fake, unsustainable, extremely religiously conservative for Western (outside of Alabama lol) standards, and they seem to posturing themselves to be counted among the elite cities of the world, which is a total joke, but appears to be happening nonetheless.

[dubu]

theres nothing new about the city, I want to see a city use technology like have a quantum computer in the middle of the city and have fiber optic internet. then have the internet mostly separate from the whole internet so that theres barley any viruses. then the computer learns from us how to make music and stuff then it would make video games and all that maybe better.

[edale]

Originally Posted by dubu

theres nothing new about the city, I want to see a city use technology like have a quantum computer in the middle of the city and have fiber optic internet. then have the internet mostly separate from the whole internet so that theres barley any viruses. then the computer learns from us how to make music and stuff then it would make video games and all that maybe better.

............ are you on acid?

[dubu]

Originally Posted by edale

............ are you on acid?

nope why lol

[Mountain man]

What did I just read......

[dubu]

Originally Posted by Mountain man

What did I just read......

if we live on mars some day it will not be very connected to earths internet, it doesn't need to be if theres about 5 million people then theres a lot going on still. then once a day you get to go on the internet where theres 7 billion people. people should be outside most the time anyways.

[sopas ej]

I've never had a desire to go to Dubai; from the various images I've seen of it, whether it be in photos, or on footage of it on "The Amazing Race" or whatever, it always just looked like Las Vegas to me, a locale I absolutely don't care if I ever set foot in again.

This proposed mall "inspired by nature" is a funny concept to me, because the nature it showcases is not of that part of the world. I see the allure of it to Dubai residents, I guess, I mean, all of those plants and trees and flowers are exotic to that area and to the people there. It would've been interesting to me if they thought to incorporate desert gardens, with succulents and stuff like that, which can have very interesting and pretty flowers themselves.

Seeing images of the skyline of Dubai, and the highways they line, it always made me think that what was missing are the people. Everything looks so sterile. If I were to visit Dubai, I would like to visit the old areas, like this neighborhood: https://www.google.com/maps/@25.2691...2!8i6656?hl=en

This to me looks far more interesting than the collection of skyscrapers and monumental modern architecture. I know many on this forum love to hate on Asian and Middle Eastern cities and talk about how "ugly" they are, but to me, this neighborhood actually has a charm and character to it; I mean, yeah, it might be a little "run-down," but it looks like people actually live there and go through their day-to-day lives there. This is the kind of neighborhood I like to visit when I travel in different cities---where the locals go. Often if there's a fixed up main boulevard, I like to walk down the parallel street a block or two away that the tourists DON'T walk down. I always try to experience cities like a local would.

[JAYNYC]

Originally Posted by edale

............ Are you on acid?

lmao

[JAYNYC]

Originally Posted by dubu

if we live on mars some day it will not be very connected to earths internet, it doesn't need to be if theres about 5 million people then theres a lot going on still. then once a day you get to go on the internet where theres 7 billion people. people should be outside most the time anyways.

You alright, chief?

[Fresh]

You keep doing you Dubu, I love your posts.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by Truthisgone

Yeah, you just sound really ignorant. The part of Sheikh Zayed Road you're talking about is one business district out of many. Those business districts are nodes in a much larger contiguous urban area. Saying no one wants to invest is like saying no one wants to invest in New York. It's just nonsense. Just because you don't understand the culture doesn't mean you should hate a place. People are people everywhere and every culture/place has bad apples.

There is no ignoring of that facts here, all you have to do is look at a map of the city and tell it's an auto centric hot mess worse than anything in the US. Please show me pedestrian orientated human scaled urbanism built with density/transit in mind outside of old Dubai that isn't some gimmicky outdoor mall. You can't, it doesn't exist.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by JAYNYC

I agree - Dallas is a bad example of poor planning. It might be dealing with growing pains (excessive traffic, escalating COL) due to the metro's recent population explosion, but all things considered there are plenty of cities that would have been a more sensible reference.

Dallas is a perfect example of bad planning, their leaders deliberately sabotage public transit and funnel everything into urban sprawl. Bad planning isn't simply judged by traffic and cost of living.

The fact that some of you are bring up Boston of all cities as a poorly planned city says it all, totally clueless.