Dubai wants its own Eiffel Tower, higher than any other building in the world......

[Bilad al-Haramayn]

Your are misunderstanding my argument. You do not have to re-invent the wheel. Again, what I am saying is that feats of engineering, whether it is skyscrapers or bridges or whatever gives an indication of what the capabilities of the society that produces it is. Sky scrapers in countries like Indonesia or Singapore reflect the depth of expertise within their own people, they simply do not in GCC countries.

And what does this have to do with your ancestors? Everyone knows that in times past Arabs were great warriors and traders, this is about the current crop of lazy people who waste their time drag racing in the dessert and coasting along in their studies. ( as an aside, I once saw an IMAX of Arab architecture from the time when the Arabs dominated the trade in Frankincense to The Roman Empire. TBH Dude, I think some of the buildings of that time built by your ancestors were FAR AND AWAY more AUTHENTIC, elegant and beautiful than anything done today)

Sky Lord, you are with all due respect uninformed in regards to this particular field. The Jeddah Tower, the future highest skyscraper which will be over 1 km tall, is being constructed by JEC (a local Saudi Arabian developer) and Saudi Binladin Group which is one of the biggest construction conglomerates in the world. Numerous Saudi Arabian engineers are involved as well. The investment is local as well. So how can you say, that locals are not involved? International architectural firms have designed numerous skyscrapers in Singapore, Indonesia, China etc. as well.

I was talking about our pre-Islamic/pre-Arab Semitic ancestors. You know those who founded the oldest recorded civilizations in the world in what is today the Near East. Long before anyone identified with any modern-day existing ethnicity. Long before the Arabic language was invented. We are their descendants.

As I told earlier I also prefer ancient Semitic/Hamitic and Arab architecture (pre-Islamic and Islamic). Of course I prefer something like this: (to give an example)


view of the high old palaces with the yemenistyle in Sana'a, yemen, by anthony pappone photographer, on Flickr

Yemen - Sana'a - Bab Al-Yemen Gate - The Gate to Old Town by Lucie Debelkova, on Flickr
Yemen - Sana - San'a - Sanaa - Sana'a - The most fascinating capital in the Arab world by Lucie Debelkova, on Flickr

(Old city of Sana'a located almost 2500 meters above sea level and over 2500 years of age - today a World UNESCO Heritage Site)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sana%27a#Old_City

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/385

over something like this:


Gotham_City__Dubai_by_GavinSanders_500px by tboonen, on Flickr


Dubai from the Palm by robert.rosenthall, on Flickr

but we live in a different age. Today nobody is building new cities in an old-fashioned style. Not in Europe nor in Asia or anywhere. In fact I can only think of Yemen (in particular) and Oman that refuse to almost built anything that is not resembling traditional architecture but even that is changing.

Speaking about skylines did you know that the first real skyscrapers were built by Arabs in Yemen (Shibam) which is also a World UNESCO Heritage Site today? Some 500 years ago. So you can say that skyscrapers are part of our culture for a long time, lol.

مدينة شبام Shibam Town by Hussein Alkhateeb, on Flickr



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibam

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/192

http://www.archdaily.com/771154/the-manhattan-of-the-desert-shibam-yemens-ancient-skyscraper-city

So now everyone from KSA, GCC and Arab world is street racing and nobody is studying hard? This is your prejudice speaking and what you have seen on Youtube videos. There is a lot of room for improvement and the educational sector must be much improved (less emphasis on religious studies) but the youth of today, at least in KSA, is much different and most are now pursuing or willing to pursue careers in science. For instance engineering is hugely popular. You forgot or do not know that almost 2/3 of the population is below 25 years of age. Or you do not know the amount of Saudi Arabians who have studied abroad in the West or the number of new universities (which are ranked in the top in the Muslim world) which have been invested in. We are at our infancy like most of the Muslim world. We have stood still for much of the past 800-500 years on this front. The Muslim world that is. We were in a very bad state not long ago in particular the GCC. There is no denying this. I wish that KSA had 1.2 billion people to choose from as well but we don't although the 450 million Arabs overall, are still underperforming enormously but the same can be said about the 1.2 billion Indians regardless of ethnicity. What the future will look like is unknown for us and we will not live to see it but I know for a fact that we will improve a lot. I have already seen this with my own eyes in the past 10 years. Baby steps and all that.

Once again for the last time, this tower (which looks nothing like the Eiffel Tower despite the as usual sensationalist title whenever Arabs are involved in anything) is being built by a PRIVATE firm because there is a demand. This has nothing to do with state founding. Jeddah Tower is not founded by the Saudi Arabian government either. I do not care about skyscrapers but I know for a fact that they attract tourists, investments, create jobs etc. This is something that is actually proven by data if you look at Dubai and the UAE. If firms inside the GCC or outside of it want to built skyscrapers then so be it. End of story really.

@alarabi @BLACKEAGLE @azzo

@Chinese-Dragon can probably tell a similar story in regards to China and the interplay between old and new architecture let alone the remarkable positive changes that China has underwent in the past 100 years.

 

[Sky lord]

@Bilad al-Haramayn OK I buy your argument that sky scrapers can be used to attract investment. You're right they do.

I don't buy the cr@p about "envy" bla bla ....people still Rightly or wrongly, see GCC as a non modern culture pretending to be something they are not. Maybe I don't know enough about society in the GCC but I am only looking at popular perception. Let's agree to disagree on that.

And yes, these buildings you were kind enough to post pictures of are really beautiful, as you said I for one would much prefer to live in an old building like that than in a glass needle.

maybe you should start a thread on that when you get time? I know I would love to see more. I remember seeing pictures of old forts and temples as well from pre Islamic days.

Anyway, as you said end of story. I wish GCC well. Best of luck buddy.

 

[Bilad al-Haramayn]

@Bilad al-Haramayn OK I buy your argument that sky scrapers can be used to attract investment. You're right they do.

I don't buy the cr@p about "envy" bla bla ....people still Rightly or wrongly, see GCC as a non modern culture pretending to be something they are not. Maybe I don't know enough about society in the GCC but I am only looking at popular perception. Let's agree to disagree on that.

And yes, these buildings you were kind enough to post pictures of are really beautiful, as you said I for one would much prefer to live in an old building like that than in a glass needle.

maybe you should start a thread on that when you get time? I know I would love to see more. I remember seeing pictures of old forts and temples as well from pre Islamic days.

Anyway, as you said end of story. I wish GCC well. Best of luck buddy.

That was in fact my sole point. Nothing else actually. I am sure that envy plays a part but otherwise I rather focus on my previous arguments on this front. I don't agree with that at all. In fact most outsiders tend to think that GCC are much richer than they actually are and that everyone is living in a palace. This is reinforced in the media. However there is no doubt that the GCC and wider Arab world is associated with conservatism. GCC is one of the most modern areas on the planet when you look at infrastructure, living standards etc. When it comes to governance it is a very different story seen from a Western point of view at least. Although the conservative varies as I doubt that anyone is associating Dubai for instance with conservatism. KSA would be a better candidate although even that is not what it seems to be if you look under the surface.
Well, you can visit the Arab section of the forum and see 2 of the "sticking threads", although almost every Arab user has left PDF in recent years aside from a very small number who remain.
Thank you and best of luck to you as well and cheers for increased business ties rather than conflict.