Dubai’s $5 Billion Lunatic Megaproject

Dubai literally is a Minecraft Server where people Just build random things

Very generous of Dubai's city planners to come out with more megaproject BS just to give Adam content.

Adam: Dubai's $5 Billion Lunatic Megaproject Me: do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down?

Me, as an architect: "WTF?" Me, as a traveler: "WTF?" Me, as a city dweller: "WTF?" Me, as an environmentalist: "WTF?" Me, as a human being: "WTF??"

Let's be honest, this is only happening because the UAE royals saw the Las Vegas sphere and went: "That, I want that. But bigger... and put a skyscraper inside it!"

The comparison of rich people to toddlers is terrifyingly accurate.

$5 billion, they could’ve just funded Gru’s project to steal the moon🙄

Ten years ago I thought: "Wow, the UAE cracked it. They used their oil not to burn through it, but to build tourism with it." I didn't think about urbanism or sustainability...and neither did they.

Someone should find a way to make universal healthcare sound like a prestigious megaproject. Maybe a super-sized megahospital with high-speed ambulance train system that stretches across the country to bring in customers (and completely coincidentally can be repurposed as a transit system).

I laughed at loud when Adam pointed out that NONE of the hotel rooms would have any windows. Come here for the authentic Dubai experience, where you too can feel like a neglected prisoner - just like the workers who built this monstrosity.

At this point, designing and constructing a functioning town with everything normal is going to earn them more praise than whatever the hell they're making up.

my dad is a cardiologist and my mom a dentist. I ended up in Dubai for 3 years. The vast majority of rich Americans (white) and English people that live there say they like it better because it looks like a western city with no low class non European people to bother you. Yes, these exact words came out of a architect friend of my father during a party in his mansion. He said that in front of everyone and they all smiled and nodded.

50% gender equality! how generous. Maybe one day we'll even strive for 100%.

Dubai is Night City we didn't want, deserve or need.

What happens if there’s a big sandstorm, and the moon gets knocked off its perch and starts rolling down the streets of Dubai like the boulder from Raiders of the Lost Arc? And all the people in the streets are pointing, screaming and running away from it as it squishes street cafe tables and umbrellas? While the Benny Hill theme plays? And then it bumps into the Burj Khalifa, which falls over, knocking into the mega project skyscraper next door? And one by one they all tumble down like domino’s in a giant Rupe Goldberg Machine? What happens then????

Dubai is that one friend that nobody actually likes, but keeps showing up to the group with the latest new thing they bought to use as conversation fodder and stay relevant.

I love how the resort is somehow supposed to have the ~15% gravity of earth, like that is somehow possible. If Dubai has figured out a gravitational insulator THAT would be the big headline

A dictator literally saw the success of a concert venue in Vegas that’s been planned for years with cutting edge technology, an established entertainment market, and a unique but attainable vision put together by dozens of motivated a d talented designers and his only take away was “HALF sphere? I want WHOLE sphere. Here’s $5 billion make it cool and impressive and make it happen now.”

A few years ago, I used to work at a company that provided services to businesses and government agencies in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, including a project for Neom . I spent 6 months in KSA for a project. I can 100% confirm the dynamic described in this video. There is a vast economy of mainly Western companies that siphon money out of those countries by pandering to the fever dreams of dictators – everything from engineers to consultants to media companies making those cheesy promotional videos. They use any trendy buzzword available ("smart cities", "fourth industrial revolution", "AI" etc etc) to make the projects sound cool. I highly doubt any of these megaprojects will ever be completed, or even started. Even the Line, as stupid and hubristic as it is, is already a massive downgrade from what they originally envisioned for Neom.

Dubai is a work of dark sociopolitical satire made frighteningly real.