It’s a transport nightmare, it’s an energy nightmare. It is absolutely bloody terrifying.
"It's is not going to work on many levels, from social to infrastructure and ecological" – Thom Mayne
The nightmare referred to in my entry title is not Canada's federal party election platforms. The nightmare is Dubai, which a leading architect says is heading toward an "ecological disaster."
In a speech at the World Architecture Congress's Cityscape Dubai conference, award-winning American architect Thom Mayne "compared Dubai's public transport plans with the development of Los Angeles in the 1960s."
I've seen photos of Dubai, which in parts we're told is emulating some of Vancouver's downtown podium/tower typology, aka Vancouverism. A few of Vancouver's leading architects and planners have cashed in by working there. As Mayne points out, these Western consultants are successfully helping to transform a hunk of sand into gated communities, 12-lane freeways and golf courses.
The photo to the right illustrates where Dubai has come in less than 20 years. From a desert outpost to a major metropolis in the time it takes to finish 10th grade. Yikes!
"Thank God," said a former Royal Institute of British Architecture president of Mayne's piping up on the Persian Gulf port city. He adds, "It's a disaster area if all [architects] do is add eco-bling to their buildings instead of dealing with the fundamentals."
In other words, you can install the most efficient air-conditioning system on Earth, it doesn't matter much if you destroy your surroundings.