Archinect - News

Oliver Wainwright explores the architectural history behind Saudi Arabia's planned The Line megacity

2022-09-13T09:00:00-04:00

It may now be seen as a dystopian nightmare, the far-flung folly of an autocrat desperate for global approval, but the idea of building a self-contained linear city has preoccupied the imaginations of architects and planners for generations. The Line might bill itself as a “never-before-seen approach to urbanisation”, but the principles behind it have been proposed many times over – though never successfully realised.

The Guardian critic writes that the outlandish NEOM project structure resembled a “habitable supercomputer” and cites a recent Bloomberg report that names Marvel Comics designer Olivier Pron as one of its many non-architect digital designers before pinning the massive project’s “ominous dystopian undertone” on Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman’s apparent penchant for cyberpunk aesthetics. “If ever there was an urban vision that embraced our end-of-days climate apocalypse,” he laments, “then this is it.”

Previously on Archinect: The Line, the largest part of Saudi Arabia’s ambitious NEOM project, looks like a total fantasy

Wainwright then turns to the architectural history books for further insights into the history of the linear megacity concept. Examples from a young Michael Graves/Peter Eisenman pairing, Superstudio, Kenzo Tange, Le Corbusier, Edgar Chambless, constructivist Mikhail Okhitovich, and 19th-century Spanish planner Arturo Soria y Mata, whom Wainwright claims invented the...

Megacities and the Future of Warfare

2017-05-15T00:14:00-04:00

The conclusions of the SSG research are clear: megacities are unavoidable, they are potentially the most challenging environment the Army has ever faced, and the Army is unprepared to operate in them...by 2030 there will be 662 cities around the world with at least one million inhabitants (compared to 512 today) and 60 percent of the world’s population will live in cities. The potential for operations in dense urban areas will rise correspondingly, presenting a challenge the Army cannot ignore.

Back in February, Maj. John Spencer made the case for why It's Time to Create a Megacities Combat Unit. A few days ago, he fleshed out the concept, by detailing "What would such a unit look like?"

Interesting to note, that rather than the more au courant image of a generic middle eastern/Arab city, the Major used a photo of Ho Chi Minh/Saigon for the essay published in Feb. Though the more recent essay, did use a photo of the rooftops in Cairo. Future mil-tech referenced includes; hover bikes, enhanced counter–unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) and soldiers skilled at Cyber Electromagnetic Activities (CEMA).

If you are interested in further U.S. Army Futures Ideation, check out SciTech Futures, where past exercises have explored everything from; Defending – and hacking – “Intelligent” buildings and Autonomous Infrastructure Destruction/Maintenance bots, to the simpler Crowd sourcing (of) innovation.

A vast urban pathology

2016-10-23T22:52:00-04:00

But it is traffic that has sealed Dhaka’s reputation among academics and development specialists as the great symbol of 21st-century urban dysfunction, the world’s most broken city. It has made Dhaka a surreal place, a town that is both frenetic and paralyzed, and has altered the rhythms of daily life for its 17.5 million-plus residents.

Jody Rosen writes about Dhaka's legendary traffic congestion.

For more check out; more incredible photos by Nicolas Chorier and get LIVE: Traffic updates for Dhaka city via The Daily Star. Or read about how the UNDP-designed Bus Finder Feature and Transport Pioneers program is trying to solve the problem.

Connectivity matters most in global urban economic growth

2016-04-22T13:57:00-04:00

Cities are mankind’s most enduring and stable mode of social organization, outlasting all empires and nations over which they have presided...it is not population or territorial size that drives world-city status, but economic weight, proximity to zones of growth, political stability, and attractiveness for foreign capital. In other words, connectivity matters more than size. Cities thus deserve more nuanced treatment on our maps than simply as homogeneous black dots.

Global strategist Parag Khanna gives his outlook on the economic future of the world's megacities.

Jakarta, the world's largest city without a subway, is drowning in traffic

2016-01-19T08:00:00-05:00

Since 2000, the world’s second-largest megacity, Jakarta, has seen its population swell by a staggering 34 percent. Though the city proper is home to just 10 million, the urban zone is home to 30 million [...] “Jakarta is the largest urban metropolitan area in the world without a metro,” he [Deden Rukmana] says. “And a metro is the most crucial element of transportation for a megacity. There’s no way it can exist otherwise.”