What Credit Crunch? Two More Ecocity Projects from the Persian Gulf
by Jesse Fox, Tel Aviv, Israel 
on 11.22.08
Coming soon to the Middle East? "The Ziggurat." (Image via World Architecture News)
Financial crisis or not, the folks in the Persian Gulf are thinking big, as usual. While construction projects in the rest of the world are grinding to a painful halt, two new ecocity-building projects have recently been unveiled in the Middle East: a conceptual pyramid-city for one million in Dubai and a $10 billion coastal city project for Qatar.
Ancient Mesopotamian Form Makes a Comeback
The more fantastic of the two is a proposal by a Dubai-based planning firm called Timelinks. "The Ziggurat," unveiled at last month's Cityscape Dubai conference, would be a self-contained ecocity with a population of one million. Occupying only 2.3 square kilometers of land, the Ziggurat would probably be the world's most densely-populated city.
Just a conceptual plan at this point, the Ziggurat would have all the trappings of a normal city arranged in a three dimensional pyramid structure, including normally land-based elements such as lakes, parks and agriculture. The design was inspired by the ziggurats of ancient Mesopotamia, ceremonial structures around which ancient cities were built.
The Ziggurat's transportation system: horizontal and vertical networks. (Image via timelinks.org)
A carfree city, the Ziggurat would feature an advanced transportation system based on vertical and horizontal networks and a host of other green features. The entire complex would be self-sufficient in energy production, and rely on renewable sources. Martijn Kramer of the International Institute for the Urban Environment recently told World Architectural News that the Ziggurat is viable from a technical view, but expressed his doubts about the plan's food supply and waste systems.
Qatar Building a New City
Meanwhile, following the lead of several other Gulf states, Qatar has decided to build its own ecocity. Though its green credentials are not yet clear, the city, called Urjuan after a local purple dye, will be "eco-friendly" according to Qatar Visitor, and is being designed by Cansult Maunsell. With its luxury hotels, resorts and apartments, as well as golf courses and a tennis academy, Urjuan's 63,000 future residents will undoubtedly be recruited from among the super-rich.
Via: worldarchitecturenews.com, Qatar Visitor, AME Info
More on green cities in the Middle East:
Xeritown in Dubai
Jordan to Build Sustainable City for One Million
Can Masdar City in UAE be Truly Sustainable?
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Very interesting, I hope one day we can all live in a city like this and then have the land around it developed into vast national parks.
Isn't the ziggurat an alternate name for the tower of Babel? I am not highly religious, but I would worry about living in a place named such. It seems similar in practice to naming a transportation vessel the Titanic. Things would not necessarily go wrong, but it still seems like bad luck would follow.
I do hope that things go well for them since their idea seems very innovative as well as interesting.
Petro-dollar talking. Wise investments for when the oil flow will reduce or dry out. All these will ensure tourists and foreign exchange will keep flowing.
"the Ziggurat would have all the trappings of a normal city arranged in a three dimensional pyramid structure, including normally land-based elements such as lakes, parks and agriculture."
Doesn't Islam prohibit the imitation of nature? These things creep me out.
the Idea is good. I work in the field of green buildings (though I joined the field 3 months ago..) and am soon going to be posted there in dubai to help with the gulf going green..
I saw the proposal for the ziggurat quite some time ago.. and I think it's a fantastic project, though the transportation system will also include modes like skating, walk-a-lators, and indeed walking, the building to building transportation will probably suck because of the tramway device... though it could be a step towards the future.. I wonder though, traveling out of the city would require vehicles.. if they could connect the new dubai railway system to it,, that would be great. but I still wish driving could be more green... I love to drive cars
.