I love how much money that country has, they build the biggest, craziest buildings in the world, they have man made islands, tenniscourts that hang off the sides of buildings over the water. I really wish i lived there.

vinnyr

if there was actually a high-end SimCity looking like that, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

That being said, nice tower.

masterage

Also interesting to note the level of smog in these pictures, contrasted with the deep blue color of the water.

I wonder if this is due to construction or actual the infrastructure that will remain once the massive build out is "complete".

Keebler

Amazing what a little math and some elbow grease will do, isn't it?

DarthTader

I'd argue it's more like Cities XL than any particular SimCity game.

Y'know, freely curving roads and all that.

DisposableInterloper

It's pretty damn hard to understand how so much development can more or less spontaneously occur and expect to be successful. Sim City isn't the only technology parable I can see... the big bad internet bubble bust is coming to mind as well.

(on a side note, haven't the palm (aritifical) islands been in use for a while now, so wouldn't there have already been a house built on an artificial island?)

Keebler

And this is why I am taking Arabic foreign language classes. The future of business will be conducted in large part in Arabic.

Samifumi

It is, however, the first structure constructed in "the world" archipelago.
Just saying.

Rev. Eaton Yorke Hunt

That Hotel on the island is not the first "house" constructed "in", or on, an artificial island.
Not by a long shot. Not even the first in Dubai.

Rev. Eaton Yorke Hunt

Hey if you put a block or two of resedential zones around your power plant you can reduce housing costs.

Just give 'em some parks or a big stadium or something to shut 'em up.

strider_mt2k

Wow, the Archology looks great. I hope I'm around when it's ready to do it's thing.

Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity

Actually, I've just looked at the EXIF data and this was shot with a Canon 1Ds Mark II - so definitely not a Mark III, nor a Nikon!

Nickbee

Shit that thing just keeps getting bigger and bigger...A vertical arcology.

tamoko

@Dreadfish: See also: Storage container for all of the other buildings in Dubai. They haven't finished the carrying handle yet.

Dreadfish

Nikon 1D Mark III?
Surely you mean the Canon 1D Mark III?

Nickbee

so pretty..

johnthevulcan

STFU...thing looks like the antenae for some kind of space laser gun!

Dreadfish

@tabaks: @DigitalReaper:

Agreed with DigitalReaper.. sure it may look all pretty and whatnot.. but it can't be all paradise right? How much does it cost to live there..?

then again.. I can't seem to find a single site telling me about local costs or income brackets..

Mith

@Keebler: Not really "smog" but haze due to particulates (sand, dust, water vapor).

If they could just green up the entire Arabian peninsula, their skies would probably be clear and blue. That's probably next year's project...

jswilson64

@lldsandsll:

Well, in few words, I see that they're really suffering from accepting our money. In the rest of your post, I completely agree! 200%!

tabaks

btw, i know it's been said, but reverse 9/11.

good thing i'm not posting in the UK =)

lldsandsll

The building is cool looking, but doesn't anyone else wonder why someone is trying to build a GINORMOUS skyscraper in the middle of the friggin desert? Has Muah Dib himself decided he needed a better view?! Such a waste of money and time just to show off that they have money and time!

zayden

@tabaks: first off it's US based oil companies posting "historical gas-related profits." second of all, it is our own economy to blame. the US dollar is worth half of what it was a year ago, thus making goods more expensive. these guys are taking risk accepting our currency, which is why they demand more of it. there is no REAL energy crisis as we are led to believe so that some jerk can campaign off of us. instead, it is an economy in an unrecoverable state causing this. never has a nation in the history of the world recovered from such a large debt. fortunately, if our economy crumbles so does the rest of the world's...for now.

lldsandsll

Didn't Babel try this once already? It didn't work out too well for them.

jkr's bold comment

@Samifumi: Ummm no, anyone who has lived in the Middle East can tell you business is conducted in English.

5cents

A few hundred years from now all of it (and many other cities around the world) will be covered by sand, or jungle or water anyway.
We have only to look to the past to see the future.

Curves

...and the cost of living is?

DigitalReaper

Actually, this just shows where's US going to be in a not so far future...NOWHERE! We've been bled silly, by those in our own country who "have", and become largely a country of "have nots". We've been abandoned and sold off by traitors who made sure to save a family of the mass murderer on the same day he committed the crime, just so they can continue to post HISTORICAL gas-related profits out of our hard earned money and help countries like Dubai build literal skyscrapers while about 40% of US has no health coverage. DISGUSTING!

tabaks

those are amazing, i'd love to see them for myself just to really understand the scale of it all...
and to go swimming at that hotel

UrIt

*were...

macaddct1984

Cool overview photo of development in Dubai: [www.burjdubaiskyscraper.com]

Check out the size of the friggin' new airport.

yelraf

These images was enhanced using Adobe® Photoshop® software.

macaddct1984

@Rev. Eaton Yorke Hunt: And it's a model home, constructed by the developers.

yelraf

@Dreadfish: That is no moo... uh, planet... uh, heck it is!? What are they doing making a battle station out a planet?

Maybe Aulderon should have had one of these?

twilight-arc

It's nice to see our oil money is going to good use.......

superbryant

@Gann: I had made the reference to SimCity in Giz's last thread about Dubai. I bet you their next headline will be: Sauramon sends Urukai to oversee completion of tower. :c)

Rabid Penguin

@tabaks: Much as I like all the cool buildings and massive construction projects, it looks like Dubai may become kinda like Disney World. Everybody wants to visit but nobody really lives there.

yelraf

Missing one thing. I giant bullseye target pasted to the side. Its not like the area isn't chock a block full of people who are always pissed off at other people enough to wreak havoc on those who have nothing at all to do with their conflict.

AndrewJayPollack

The complete lack of vegetation surrounding it kinda reminds me of:

It's all fun and games until the oil-ents get pissed.

Gann

@Mith:

Some info, just a cursory Google search, I'm sure you can do much better:

[archive.gulfnews.com]

tabaks

not impressed, sorry.

malvones

@zayden: Somebody's compensating...

PeterSimpson

Too bad the US treats its own natural resources as if they were toxic and instead chooses to export $700 BILLION a year for the purchase of foreign oil. When oil was $20/barrel, I guess it made sense to leave US reserves alone and buy from the Persian Gulf states - at $120, it is frickin criminal. If we want to change that, we need to take all reasonable steps NOW - increased conservation, drilling in ANWAR and offshore, oil shale development, building nuclear plants so that we can actually power plug-in hybrids and pure electric cars in the future, massively upgrade the nationalal electric grid so that power can be moved efficiently and develop new energy storage methods (like short-term electrolisis) so that electricity generated by things like wind, solar and tidal can contribute to the grid in a predictable manner. Food-based biofuels are a cruel joke - they get at least $10billion in subsidies a year and have a minimal net energy return - try spending that money on national infrastructure.

Canoehead

how does he get that effect in photo-chop?

WD40

@Rev. Eaton Yorke Hunt: Yeah. Good catch.

Jesus Diaz

The Eye of Sauron hasn't been completed yet at the top of the tower. That's why it's not yet complete.

On Wikipedia, there's an interesting article. Here's a small section:
The United Arab Emirates dirham's close connection with the low US Dollar, and the increased cost-of-living in the region, has made it increasingly difficult for immigrant construction workers to survive on their wages. An offer by the UAE government in June 2007 to fly home illegal immigrant workers free-of-charge, with no questions asked, was met with overwhelming demand, further threatening the supply of workers on Burj Dubai and other Dubai construction projects. As of June 17, 2008 there are 7,500 skilled workers employed in the construction of Burj Dubai.[11]
Press reports indicate that skilled carpenters at the site earn US$7.60/day, and laborers earn US$4.00.

link: [en.wikipedia.org]

whatnot22

@yelraf: Are the Bluth's back in business?

Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity

:O

^

shocking

shanzi

@Jesus Diaz: No I don't... Not anymore anyway. After I mentioned it the first time it's obvious everyone sees the connection now :c)

Rabid Penguin

@Gann: Then we drop the dollar and start using "dolores." Go back to the gold standard. Compensate all American citizens, then no longer accept trade or exchanges on the dollar.

I like where you are going with this.

Rabid Penguin

@Canoehead: Besides me, name anyone who would be willing to have a nuclear reactor in their area. Hell, I live in NJ. The background radiation I'm exposed to hasn't killed me yet. And the current Gen of reactors is safer than my car. If the French have no problem building reactors, then why do we?

Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity

@Rabid Penguin: Do you actually think you are the only one who sees these shots and think "SimCity"? You smaaaaart boy you.

Jesus Diaz

@Canoehead: On the other hand, if we use all of the middle east's oil before we tap into ours we will effectively remove much of their importance from global politics.

Gann

if i were rich enough....

mrpedenman

Actually some of the coolest darn structures in the world.

bms

Absolutely staggering on so many levels. And yes, I think I built Dubai when SimCity 2000 came out, complete with the islands, archologies, etc.

Schalliol

Man, when did we get enough tech points to build the Stellar Converter? Now we can finally fulfill our dreams of blowing up the moon!

Ubik2501

Their rush hour traffic sucks ass too.

That's some crazy shit. I would hate all the dirt/dust in the air though.

themediaguy

Combine citadel anyone?

TechnoSmurf

Anyone else notice the huge desert surrounding this place? Or was that just me?
This is going to be like another Vegas at best, go for the weekend every 3-4 months...oh but wait its all the way the fuck in India. NM..

efenili

easy there people.. i live in U.A.E and i've been living here for about 5 years.. now give me a job in any other country.. and i mean any other country and ill go there.. the rules here, the traffic, here the living cost here, its all just a pain in the !@# .. yes there is all those fancy buildings and blablbla but its only for the ultra rich people.. for example 1 studio sold the first day in that building for 3600000 dollars and now it most likly worth hmm 3 or 4 times that price... on the other hand its maybe the safest country you might live in, you don't like trouble.. this is where you should be, that coming from someone who lived in Morocco, Jordan, Palestine.. and i used to get into fight monthly..., and here ? still didn't since 5 years.. yes it is an amazing country and yes it is a rich country and no its not from oil, its pure business but still living here is really really really + really expensive.. did i mention the amazing traffic ? ohhh yeah i did

zixyon

The image titled 'up the creek' is actually looking down the creek. Just out of view on the left is the Grand Mosque which sits on the west side of Dubai Creek which goes north to the gulf. just fyi.

shoeless

@Schalliol: How the hell did you build the islands (Im guessing your talking about the world)when Simcity 2000 came out in 1993 and the world wasnt unveiled to 2003

utube2007

Also, those crane operators have the worst job in the world.

man in gauze is king ramses II, silly.

Compared to the rest, the base is really small-looking.

man in gauze is king ramses II, silly.

I wonder what a couple inches of rising sea level will do to this place?

mildretard

Rev. Eaton Yorke Hunt: That Hotel on the island is not the first "house" constructed "in", or on, an artificial island.

"The World", is the name of those artificial islands. So yes, that's the first hotel, and the first house, constructed on "The World's" artificial islands. (Not the first hotel/house in the World constructed on an artificial island.)

including the stunning New Atlantis Hotel and the first house constructed on one of The World's artificial islands

lordargent

You probably mean the Canon 1D Mk III. Or you mean the Nikon D3.

RenitaEspish

@efenili: Wow that is so ignorant.. At best a gambling city?? are you insane or just extremely US-centric?? They probably have many problems there, but these are business buildings, plus of course hotel resorts for the rich, but it is waaay beyond las vegas in term of importance in the WORLD..

krisve

So, wait. If this is a new Sim City, can I pull out the demo tool and wipe out half the city? Or play in Disaster Scenario modes where Dubai randomly lights on fire in different places and I have to convince the striking Fire department workers to put it out? =P

I'd buy that game.

michaelportent

Importance in the world? Pffft, only if you're mega rich and want someplace to go play.

Ike_Skelton

If I was forced to live here, I'd want to live on F18. I'd call it...Mini-Michigan. Too bad it doesn't look like Michigan at all.

Purple Dave

@Samifumi: I am going to venture a guess here and bet you would be better off taking Mandarin Chinese.

@Keebler: That's not smog. It is caused by sand in the air. The whole Middle East gets like that sometimes. You should see what the sand storms do. That city has gotten so much bigger since I was there in 2003. I really want to go back and check it out.

antitrust311

passed by it on a connecting flight to kuwait, it was frighteningly close to the airplane

bishara

@utube2007: It's been 15 years or so, so my memory may be fuzzy on whether it was 2000 or 3000. However, you could landscape your city before starting to really work on it. You can raise or lower the land, and then add trees, etc. You can start with default maps or make your own.

Schalliol

atleast for people who wanna kill themselves they can guarentee it from up there .... bad joke i know but psh

crazy_jim

@lldsandsll: and that is fortunate....why? a worldwide depression? im sure thats what everyone wants. im not so patriotic that if the US went down, I would want the rest of the world to as well

pevans34

you guys know that Samsung is constructing this tower right?

koralex90