@CityPowerJhb, Needwood ext 22 without power again for 4 hours. Third time in three weeks. Why is this always the case with us? Update on status please
Not necessarily saying this is good, but not willing to jump on the “not Barcelona, bad” Urbanist bandwagon. Time we find climate, cultural, technological and arguable financial relativism in future cities…
Also, look at the project team: the planning head is an Italian woman, the head of water is a SAfrican man… etc…ask is this more akin to a globalist unbridled vision, for a desert landscape? (What kind of futures is that designing - and actually building - for?) Or is it grift?
Are there things that don’t quite resonate? Sure… like what is “AI mobility”? but if you seek to understand we might all learn.
Eg the mirror wall? Shiny object? Or attempt to protect the vistas from all angles? (Highly valued in Saudi)
Saudi has temps of 40•C+ & rising in a desert environment. Incomprehensible to most commenting. Added, a project & finance context that most commenting would experience as unimaginably unconstrained. Of course the ideas emerging will shock us. Our lens (gaze?) must shift..?
@BrentToderian The problem with concepts like these is that they hire architects to come up with them rather than great city planners. So invariably you get a really big building, rather than a city. Architects think they are city planners but they’re not. Le Corbusier on AI-fuelled steroids.
@BrentToderian The world is filled with potential or actual architectural follies. Brazilia in Brazil was a modernist city built around cars. Apparently the city would not have functioned if it were not for the unplanned parts around the edges. e.g. article https://t.co/Ip8rgLYJTu