Dubai: Crazy Island Expansions (Terraforming)

[Nowhereman1280]

So I was just looking around on the internet and ran across yet another extravagant plan in Dubai, this one trumps even the Palm Island development.

For those of you not familiar with the Palm Islands development, it is basically three gigantic man-made islands being built along the Dubai coast. The real estate is being sold for, you guessed it, more tourist development. The plan calls for three palms to be built. Currently only the first palm, the palm Jumeirah, is complete and open for development.

Here is a picture of Palm Jumeriah:

http://blog.temple-du-argh.net/uploads/Dubai_Palm_Island.jpg

Here is a diagram of what three different palms will be shaped like, the one in the middle is Jumeriah:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1a/Palm_Island_Overview.PNG



The Palms are apparently just the beginning, as I discovered today. There is apparently another ambitious plan for a large cluster of islands called "The World". The World is a series of islands that, when viewed from above, evoke the shapes of all the continents and, therefore, the world. I believe the same people who are doing the Palms are building these things. The total number of islands in the plan is between 250 and 300.


Here is a picture of the plan for "The World":

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/The_world_Dubai_islands.jpg


Who knows what else these crazy developers in Dubai will come up with next!

I'm betting on a real life version of Jurrasic Park myself, any takers?

[vanman]

Where have you been? The world is old news and if I'm not mistaken has been under construction for over a year now.

[Nowhereman1280]

Where have you been? The world is old news and if I'm not mistaken has been under construction for over a year now.

Ehh, I hadn't noticed "The World" until now, just thought I'd start a thread about these island developments.

[Riise]

I almost forgot that they were still creating these Island Developments. I was watching a Discovery Channel show about them last year, I wonder how far along they have gotten since that time.

[AltinD]

The reclamation work for The World is 90% complete.


More info here: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=391728&page=3

[MolsonExport]

What a great place to be in the event of a tsunami.

[raggedy13]

^Or an earthquake. Do you think those islands are seismically stable? I'd bet on some severe liquefaction.

[Dalreg]

You have to wonder about rising sea levels too. 50 years from now this could all be under water.

[Mr Roboto]

Well, the 6 year old kid in me thinks this is pretty cool. But the logical side to me, (somewhat) outweighs that and thinks this is just plain dumb.

A complete waste of resources. But I guess, when you have time and money to waste, you come up with crazy crap like this. Whats next, a chessboard of buildings? An underwater resort? Hah, this shit cracks me up.

[Jularc]

Where does Dubai gets all its fresh water anyways? How would these little islands will get all the water they need?

[crisp444]

Jularc, I believe that Dubai desalinizes water in order to use it for drinking and landscape irrigation. They can build all they want if they continue to use this method of fresh water reclamation, which I support.

[crisp444]

Well, the 6 year old kid in me thinks this is pretty cool. But the logical side to me, (somewhat) outweighs that and thinks this is just plain dumb.

A complete waste of resources. But I guess, when you have time and money to waste, you come up with crazy crap like this. Whats next, a chessboard of buildings? An underwater resort? Hah, this shit cracks me up.

I think it's a fantastic and innovative idea that will continue to bring foreign money into Dubai. No one laughed at The Netherlands when they reclaimed land from the sea, why is Dubai ridiculed for being cutting edge?

PS - I would love to stay at un underwater resort, so I hope they do build one :)

[Chicago Shawn]

PS - I would love to stay at un underwater resort, so I hope they do build one :)

Underwater resort already happening....

http://img400.imageshack.us/img400/2681/hydropolis0wa.jpg
http://www.conway.com/ssinsider/images/sf030915a.jpg
http://www.greatestcities.com/0171pic/939/CP12939.jpg/7.jpg

[alex1]

I think it's a fantastic and innovative idea that will continue to bring foreign money into Dubai. No one laughed at The Netherlands when they reclaimed land from the sea, why is Dubai ridiculed for being cutting edge?

PS - I would love to stay at un underwater resort, so I hope they do build one :)

i think most would agree that there is a difference between "cutting-edge" and logical. There's little doubt that the Netherlands needed reclamation for purposes other than housing. Dubai's development has fairly severe environmental side-affects for extremely low density develoment. In other words, it's all show. And show shouldn't trump responsible development, not at this scale at least.

[Chicago Shawn]

^Totaly agreed. Most of the high-rises too are really just the tower in a park model on steriods. All the new developement is very auto centric, not at all evironmentaly sustainable in the planning concept.

[Paintballer1708]

Is the underwater resort in Dubai? I remember reading something about an ocean resort, cant remember if it was underwater or not, but it was being built in China.

[hoosier]

This post would have been informative two years ago, but now this is like starting a thread on Seven WTC.

Skyscraper City has a thread devoted just to Palm Jumeirah. And Palm Jebel Ali has already been formed in the Persian Gulf.