This photo is from Architectural Record online. It is one of the more inspiring projects in Abu Dhabi. It is in the desert. Notice the desert around the building complex. Someday, there will be more city, but it will still be surrounded by desert. And beyond that desert, there is more desert. What pathology motivates humans to build things where conditions so harsh? I live in a wet climate near an ocean that is rising at a gradually accelerating rate. We get lots of rain and although our winters are long, we seem to have adapted. Well, not entirely, we still use too much energy, especially when compared to many folks in the developing world.
What will evenutally happen to this place? When complete, over 90,000 people are supposed to live there, which compared to development surges in many established cities around the globe, is an unremarkable number.
Maybe I'm being too hard, but until everyone starts doing this, one project only highlights the foolishness of other projects that are done under "normal" conditions. And when the oil runs out? What then?
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