Mega-City One

[FlammableFlower]

Ok, not quite, but this Saudi Arabian pipe-dream looks like the perfect attempt at making sci-fi dystopian cities real.

[headshot]

Cool. I presume this utopian city will be constructed and serviced by well paid, and fairly treated, workers. Otherwise that could lead to some Really Bad Things happening.

[FlammableFlower]

Also, with all the separate, self-contained 'zones', it reminds me of that sci-fi novel that I've suddenly forgotten... the tower block where everything descends into anarchy... just now horizontal and 100 miles long.

[jaap]

Also, with all the separate, self-contained 'zones', it reminds me of that sci-fi novel that I've suddenly forgotten... the tower block where everything descends into anarchy... just now horizontal and 100 miles long.

High-rise by J.G.Ballard? (also a Ben Wheatley film)

[FlammableFlower]

Also, with all the separate, self-contained 'zones', it reminds me of that sci-fi novel that I've suddenly forgotten... the tower block where everything descends into anarchy... just now horizontal and 100 miles long.

High-rise by J.G.Ballard? (also a Ben Wheatley film)

That's the one!

[Bird on a Fire]

I reckon they can do it. They've built big stuff before.

And I don't see how it's that different to normal city blocks, as long as you can get through easily at street level. There's buildings in China with metro lines running through them (orthogonally). It's not like people generally really care about perambulating their own building with the warmth of the sun on their face. Especially when it's 40°C+.

Horrible regimes though.

[EACLucifer]

It's going to have an underhive, isn't it? It must surely have an underhive. An underhive full of strange, strange gangs, mutated life forms and the occasional well off noble who likes to hunt people for sport.

[Bird on a Fire]

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

[Gfamily]

This may have some relevance, it's how the lift/elevator should be considered as one of the most transformative mass transit systems
(I think that's one of the points made, if it isn't, it should be)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04yzrqv

[Bird on a Fire]

Re: underhive, I'm imagining a mashup of a souk, a cyberpunk district cooling system, and that cave place out of the matrix.

[Bird on a Fire]

HOLY f.cking MACKEREL though, have you watched that f.cking promo video?

They're w.nking off about this monstrosity's purported "eco" credentials, when it's a f.cking 500m high f.cking wall running ONE HUNDRED f.cking MILES through the middle of what looks like pretty unspoiled habitat. Like DOES LITERALLY NOBODY CONSIDER ECOLOGICAL CONNECTIVITY WHEN PLANNING f.cking ANYTHING no they don't we already know the answer to that one.

How is one of those cute desert jerboa guys supposed to hop FIFTY f.cking MILES to get to the other side? Are you TRYING to cause inbreeding depression?

Assumed this would be a regeneration project in an existing urbanisation. f.ck this stupid nonsense.

Like, at least make it a f.cking cross* or something.

*Yeah i know, but a crescent has a totally inefficient topology in this context.

[Boustrophedon]

And the people that are bred in there, we get to eat them right?

[Millennie Al]

How is one of those cute desert jerboa guys supposed to hop FIFTY f.cking MILES to get to the other side?

Tunnels.

[Gfamily]

How is one of those cute desert jerboa guys supposed to hop FIFTY f.cking MILES to get to the other side?

They'll just have to think up their own punchline

[Bird on a Fire]

How is one of those cute desert jerboa guys supposed to hop FIFTY f.cking MILES to get to the other side?

They'll just have to think up their own punchline

To be fair if I was hopping around in the Saudi desert I'd probably join a fifty mile line for punch.

[Bird on a Fire]

How is one of those cute desert jerboa guys supposed to hop FIFTY f.cking MILES to get to the other side?

Tunnels.

It's crazy but it just might work.

Although, eco-underhive. Are you sure you want gangs of radioactive mutant jerboa pick-pockets, Millennie Al?

[nekomatic]

9028A107-1CB8-472B-AD8B-C8080F5A39F4.jpeg (432.69 KiB) Viewed 1678 times

[Rich Scopie]

How is one of those cute desert jerboa guys supposed to hop FIFTY f.cking MILES to get to the other side?

Tunnels.

It's crazy but it just might work.

Although, eco-underhive. Are you sure you want gangs of radioactive mutant jerboa pick-pockets, Millennie Al?

I’ve *definitely* seen them supporting Hawkwind, in about 1996.

[plodder]

Ok, not quite, but this Saudi Arabian pipe-dream looks like the perfect attempt at making sci-fi dystopian cities real.

So I guess the other way to look at this is that we need to make big changes to the way we live. Huge, silly vanity projects may be huge and silly and vain but they also provide concentrations of resources so that new ideas can be tested and help ratchet the public's expectations of what can be achieved - in this case in a really important and urgent area.

As for the scorn about densification of living - you guys have some serious reading to do. We're not going to all have acre plots and weave our own trousers from patchwork plants.

As for the scorn about Saudi in general - fair enough - but the concept of a new sustainable* city can tolerate a few layers of b.llsh.t heaped on it. It would be lovely if the Saudi's wanted to spend their petro-dollars on saving the Amazon rainforest but get real, eh?

*whatever the f.ck sustainable happens to mean this week

[Bird on a Fire]

Yeah but my scorn about impacts on ecological connectivity is reasonable and well-evidenced so nyer

[Sciolus]

Tunnels are a thing. Anyway, it's a desert, the whole point is there's nothing there.

I might be trolling a bit.

[lpm]

True. There's something particular that is not in a desert. Can't quite remember what, probably isn't important for survival.

[Grumble]

True. There's something particular that is not in a desert. Can't quite remember what, probably isn't important for survival.

The Labour Party?

[plodder]

True. There's something particular that is not in a desert. Can't quite remember what, probably isn't important for survival.

Yup, and with changing rainfall patterns and more frequent droughts globally it probably makes sense to get some large scale models of resilience put together, wouldn’t you agree?

[TimW]

True. There's something particular that is not in a desert. Can't quite remember what, probably isn't important for survival.

Perfect place for a city then. And it's best to make it linear so that everything is as far apart as possible.