The Falcon City of Wonders
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So, what’s new at Dubai? The latest project is called the Falcon City of Wonders and is a $1.5 billion bird-shaped city which will include life-size replicas of seven wonders of the world as well as offices, shops and flats.
Three buildings will be modeled on structures that were part of the original list of the “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World” — the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
Others will be replicas of more modern wonders — the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Great Wall of China, a statement said.
The Falcon City website has details of each structure in the massive undertaking. The project is spread over an area of 100 acres and will be created in five overlapped phases, with the first phase expected to begin by the first quarter of 2006. [via: Reuters]
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8 Comments on “The Falcon City of Wonders”
We need more universities and the seven wonders of the science … like japan did after the end of the WII …
The palm Island, the Falcon city of …, etc… kifaya min entertainment and waste of time !.. they can’t do a better Eifel tower than Paris, or a better Great Pyramid than egypt,.. etc…
Talk about ‘originality’
Couldn’t they at least come up with something that doesn’t involve replicating something historical? Who hires these idiots?!?!?!
What next? Their own ‘City of Venice’?!
The whole idea of shaping an island (like it’s a piece of paper or something) to the shape of a tree or a bird, or anything else for that matter, is just plain stupid.
Before they keep coming up with another bzillion project ideas, why don’t they take that money and spend it on people in need- or are they not worth it because they’re not going to be bringing in investments to the country? HA!
It’s stuff like this that makes me sick of the world we live in today…
I just visited their website…and they ARE going to have a ‘Town of Venice’…see?! They’re not original!
Just to make a point, I am going to visit Italy’s City of Venice as soon as this project is done (the point being that there’s nothing like the real thing)!
Not only the domain was stolen but also the whole design and idea of this project. As far as I am informed it was meant to be a project, much smaller, that had an idealistic background to educate young people to respect their own culture but also to learn to be open minded to tolerate other and different cultures. The project included a university of a very high international standard in order to give especially the Nationals of the U.A.E. and GCC the possibily to study in their own country and to learn to appreciate their own cultural background but it also was meant to attract students from all over the world..so you see, there is a whole edcuational concept behind this project. The so called wonders - copies of the monuments around the world - were not found in the original planning exept of one specially designed pyramide serving as auditorium max, cultural center, meeting point and convention center. The original design was founded by an American Architect who lived for a long time in Germany. His idea of the project was totally different and included a great conception. The stolen idea and project was turned into a commerialized fairground. Surely this will not attract sophisticated tourists. Also I ask myself who wants to have a villa next to a fairground where the tourists step around and the sight seeing buses drive through - if they come. So I believe it will be as always with the things that are stolen - they are not meant to be.
I think you are all wrong. What is wrong with creating a dream city? They would need the money for once their oil runs out, and the tourist attraction will let in a lot of cash flow. And you are worried about the people? First, no one in the UAE doesn’t have a job. They won’t let you in. Also, they have HUGE amounts of money. They arent going to spent it ALLL on the tourist attractions, their not that dimwitted!
Whats wrong with replicating something historical? It’s just for fun, and interesting. I don’t see what harm it will do. Plus, it won’t be the SAME thing, because the REAL places don’t have hotels, businesses and shopping centres. People have a choice now.
It is very superficial and shortsighted to believe that to build up a dream city like this, it will attract tourists that much that it can be a replacement for the oil sector. Because no tourist will be attracted by copies. They always aim to see the originals. It even casts a damning light on this wonderful country since it gives foreigners the impression that it does not have its own attractions so they have to use the copied ones.
It is also not right that there is no unemployment at all in the U.A.E.. Dubai even has created its own organization and laws for encouraging companies to employ U.A.E. nationals. Expats of course normally have to have a job so the rate of unemployment is very low. Anyway what difference does this argument make regarding the creation of a project full of copies.
Having huge amounts of money brings a certain responsibility with it. Therefore it seems to be wise and farsighted, first to take care of the education of a country because than the well educated people are able to cope with this great responsibility. They do not have to rely on expats what can lead to a certain dependency - and is it not a target of every country in the world to be independent, especially when a country is blessed with oil and therefore prosperity.
Found the Falcon City website quite crummy and ended up finding an easier view of the project at Falcon City of Wonders [Dubailand] found at TEN Real Estate.
Alan,
I don’t think it is as short-sighted as it appears to be.
It appears that they are not just trying to attract tourists, but MONEY MONEY MONEY. The U.A.E. has been working hard to position Dubai as more than a Middle East version of New York or London (regional business and invesment hubs) and the Falcon City and all the other initiatives are in line with bringing in a mixture of Swizerland (tax haven for large companies and rich people), Monaco (where the obscenely rich meet to flash their money - and spend it) and Marbella and the many other upper-class refuges (place of summer or winter residences, semi-retirement and retirement for the wealthy).
The implementation may be a little kitschy, but I am sure it would make a very good alternative to oil income. I mean, who cares about 1,000 people paying 30% tax on their $200 thousand annual income if you can have 5 people paying 5% tax on their $20 million annual income? or 1,000 tourists with a weekly budget of $500 for ‘pocket money’ if you can have 50 tourists who each spend $5,000 per day?
Being a very attractive place for rich people to invest, ’store’, and spend their money is extremely lucrative for a state as it brings a lot of money into the country without putting heavy strains on the welfare and healthcare systems. And it is a very good winning strategy for countries poor in natural resources, like Hungary and many Middle East countries (when the oil runs out).
It is true that the U.A.E. will be dependent on expats, but the U.A.E. is already dependent on foreign markets to consume the oil. I can’t think of any country in the world that is not dependent on other countries at all. Interdependencies do more good to societies than bad, so in most cases the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks.
Having a lot of corporate headquarters also increases the skill level of employees required, so that will also benefit the ‘native’ population as they will live better from taking salaries as accountants, lawyers, salespeople, secretaries etc. than from taking salaries as factory workers or selling cheap knickknacks to budget travellers.
I have not made up my mind about whether I find their concept (the Falcon City of Wonders) good or bad, but that is more a question about taste. I am not really sure whether I find the idea of creating isolated ‘ghettos’ for the rich appealing either, but I do think that their idea of creating a bustling hub as a magnet for investors and wealthy people is very good and this is actually what I have been arguing that Hungary should do for years, because it would greatly benefit all of society. High economic activity is a win-win for everybody.