By Gerhard Hope www.constructionweekonline.com
The Dubai Metro would have been a much better product in terms of integrated urban development if it had been built ten years ago, said David Nunn, partner at Simmons & Simmons MENA.
Nunn was speaking at the recent World Architecture Congress at Cityscape Global 2010.
“It was an afterthought, albeit a very necessary afterthought. It is important to get this infrastructure planning right as a key element of developmental planning going forward. If you do not get that right, it is highly inefficient, as to retrofit a city with appropriate infrastructure is expensive and destructive to the people in the city – indeed it has its own environmental impact,” said Nunn.
“It is a real challenge to get the infrastructure right … Infrastructure often lags development. The world is filled with examples of standalone developments. It is really a very difficult challenge because they sell exclusiveness, and it does not always allow for the porosity one would like in the urban city,” said American Institute of Architects president George Miller.
