15.0 Can Money Alone Develop a City Overnight?

With recent "experiments" in city development such as Dubai and the beginning of Iskandar Malaysia in the State of Johor, the ongoing question is can development go from greenfield to first world overnight?  Another way to put it is can you induce a city’s growth with development steroids?

Burj Al Arab, Dubai a sole landmarke does not make a city.

One must go back to a fundamental question which is what makes a city?  Is it the physical development, infrastructure and building?  Well certainly that has to be one aspect of it.  But why are there building in the first place?  Yes that’s right to house a population or society, but if that doesn’t exist, then should the city rise out of the ground?   



Crowds of people at Dong Men, Shenzhen



Is the city to be built so a population can be transported in?  This has been the case of Dubai, hard to find a native of Dubai once you pass the immigration.  There are lots of workers from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, but where are the Dubai natives?  Lots of houses were built, but sold to people from all over the world, but no one lives there?  So what was the purpose of the development? Is there some economic benefit, to whom?  Profits from oil was reinvested back into the country which is good, but for who’s benefit?  The whole economics of the Dubai experiment is certainly one question that will be studied and watched for years. 

Apartments all over Dubai mostly unoccupied

From the city planning perspective what is the result?  Well cities that develop and grow to support an existing and growing population, develop character and soul based on the lifestyle of the population which is a result of the environment combined with the everyday activities which usually have a lot to do with the economics of the location.  But wait a minute if there is no population there, what kind of character and soul will develop?  That’s right none!   

The highways that run across Dubai, the anonymous building that litter the landscape are a far cry from the early settlement along Dubai Creek.  The disregard for building environmental control because of cheap fuel results in sculpted glass boxes completely out of place in the harsh desert environment.  Certainly the Dubai experiment continues, but only time will tell how much of the city will remain intact without a population?  And what will become of all the unoccupied apartments?

Dubai Creek traditional architecture



Super Highway running through the center of Dubai

Iskandar development in Malaysia is on a path to try and stimulate growth through extensive investments ("development steroids"), but not on the same scale as Dubai.  There is massive investment in infrastructure, but I imagine that is where the steroid treatment will stop.  The building will probably be left to the developers who will need to justify on their own and turn profits so I would expect no demand will result in no action!  

Iskandar Malaysia palm oil plantations to be transformed into a new city

New highways connect all of Iskandar Malaysia

If we take examples of Singapore which very quickly developed in a short span of 30 year, but remember all focus was on the city state by a strong central government which coordinated the entire effort.  And with that you can see there had to be focus and new areas were opened up slowly to meet demand and conserve investment in infrastructure.  Also a historic trading center was already in existence as well as critical population base.  The development also goes through transitions and starts at a density relative to the population and as that grows the density grows to where it is today.  If we look at historic photos of Raffles place originally and today, we can see how it evolved going through puberty to reach the current state of adulthood. 

Raffles Place c1960's (source:singas.co.uk)

Raffles Place today enclosed by high rise office buildings

Singapore continues to constantly redevelop because of the strong URA that manages the whole urban planning of the city state and can change the value of a property by rezoning, but does so for strategic development reasons, not to deepen the pockets of any particular companies.  Sometimes in the evolution of development, temporary facilities need to be executed, either short term 5 year or even longer term 20 year in order to start something moving in the right direction and usually only long term governments really have the long term commitment for temporary facilities to be executed.

By these examples we can see that integrated master planning and integrated development execution are essential to expedited urban development and growth and has proven to work, but certain fundamentals need to exist:

First and essentially, a population which can grow roots and make the city HOME.

Secondly the development of a Sustainable Economy.
If the 2 fundamentals exist, development steroids can certainly take the city to the next level in a short time.  If the essentials do not exist, the development steroids will be an addiction and last only as long as the supporting pockets are deep.   

Jiwa Studio

Singapore, December 2011
http://jiwastudioweb.blogspot.com/