Megaprojects have been around for as long as civilization has. Large-budget government undertakings such as the Pyramids of Giza, the Empire State Building, and the Palm Jumeirah direct the global spotlight toward the countries and governments which built them.  

​

We speak of Egypt, New York, and Dubai's pomp and grandeur because we see this reflected in their architectural crown jewels. With the rise of international travel in the past century, these projects have helped boost tourism. However, they are a privilege enjoyed overwhelmingly by the rich, as the exorbitant budgets of these luxuries are often redirected from social infrastructure development initiatives. Additionally, urban planners and architects often focus more on the scale of these projects and disregard their practicality.  

​

This trend is only becoming more common as the world grows into being more interconnected, interdependent, and globalized which further broadens an ever-growing crevasse between the upper and working classes. 

​

Many countries are planning on building new capital cities that aim to act as new economic hubs. This moves government operations away from the chaos of the historic cities they were originally situated in. 

​

In theory, the plan sounds both ambitious and profitable. However, the practicality of many of these projects is almost entirely ignored to make way for their appearance.  

​

The most recent example of this is Egypt’s plan to build a new capital city; this city would consist of the world’s tallest building, tallest flagpole, 3 mega-mosques, a mega-church, and the world’s largest military complex - 8 times the size of the Pentagon, with lifeless American-style suburbs surrounding these premises. As much as this plan shows Egypt as capable of building concrete boxes larger than everyone else, it spells disaster for the country. 

​

Part of the plan involves a park 6 times the size of Central Park in New York City, created to ‘encourage social interaction’. However, to showcase how well Egypt can build roads, this park is only accessible through 6-lane highways. In fact, so are the houses in the city. Combining this with the complete absence of public transport aside from 1 monorail, the city is impossible to walk around. When considering this, it is apparent that this city is only meant for Egypt’s wealthy, as nobody without a car or the money to pay for a monorail ticket can access the city.  

​

Environmental concerns are also visible, as a park of such a size in the middle of the desert would take an unnecessary amount of water to maintain. Overall, the plan seems like a financial and environmental crisis packaged in warmly hued wrapping paper and tied perfectly with a golden ribbon. 

​

Egypt is far from the first to create unfathomable visions for new cities and not follow through. Dubai, for example, is a cornucopia of half-successful megaprojects that one could easily point and laugh at if not for its PR team working overtime. The Palm Jumeirah, for example, faced its fair share of issues such as water stagnation and the destruction of the local aquatic system. Other Palm projects were constructed, such as the Palm Jebel Ali and the Palm Deira (only partially completed) and saw little return on investment. The Burj Khalifa, in all its opulence, is not connected to the city’s sewage system, which means a line of trucks must collect 15 tons of sewage daily from the architectural marvel. 

​

Saudi Arabia also unveiled its vision for a city built for the future: Neom, which takes the form of a 100-mile-long line, where all the transport is underground, and people can walk around and build houses at ground level without worrying about highways. This entirely disregards the severe inflation of house prices in the city, where not having enough money to buy a house in the sliver of the city closest to any existing civilization would mean you will be forced to live 100 miles away – call that alienation by the rich.  

​

Of course, there is also an underlying layer of exploitation at work here. Saudi Arabia’s ongoing international showmanship comes as a direct response to the multiple accusations of human rights violations directed toward them.  

​

Dubai’s many engineering marvels are done using labor contractors who exploit the rights of workers in South Asia through contract farming, passport theft, and terrible living conditions due to weak labor laws. Egypt, too, has plans that would increase the number of people living in slums due to the loss of job opportunities pertaining to the old government sector at the center of the old capital. 

​

Humans love escaping into fantasies about utopia, and this goes the same for those in power. However, building for the future when one blatantly ignores what the future will hold is dangerous. While governments enjoy flexing their financial muscles in the short term, the effects of building for sport will be billions of wasted revenues and a hearty contribution to development but also its equally equivocal consequences of spewing environmental crises, wealth inequality, and mass exploitation.  

​

Written by Hriday Deepak