Even if Abu Dhabi has almost unique economic and institutional conditions and rests for now as a borderline case of development profiles, it still highlights several common problems in contemporary large-scale development projects and in the use of star architecture in other parts of the world: little care for the context of branded projects, de-politicization of urban development, weak and inconsistent public planning...[and] spectacular architecture [for] global competition and media exposure — CityLab
An excerpt from the upcoming book “Starchitecture. Scenes, Actors, and Spectacles in Contemporary Cities” by Davide Ponzini and Michele Nastasi examines Abu Dhabi's Saadiyat Island megaproject, and argues how such projects show the little influence that famous architects can have on city-building initiatives today.
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2 Comments
This should be an interesting read!
"This story also tells us about how little star architects can do for city making. Under the observed conditions, they are generally asked to produce a spectacle—and to allow their aura to be linked to projects and developers— without having the opportunity to critically intervene on the structure of the city (or district) nor on the destiny of one area, even less on capitalization objectives, or the creation of urban rent and monopoly."
^ and jan gehl still proves he's the best at what he does
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