Share this
Twitter
Myspace
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Facebook
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
Tags
BY PAM LOBLEY
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
COMMENTARY
I'm sure you've heard by now, there's a new tallest building in town. Well, it's not in your town. It's in Dubai. It's 2,717 feet tall, and 160 stories, which makes it taller than the CN Tower in Toronto, or the 101 Tower in Taipei, previously the world's tallest.
This is such a guy thing. Only men care about super tall buildings. Women just want their buildings to be warm, with plenty of bathrooms. Only men would think that 150 stories is not good enough.
Did we really need the next "World's Tallest Building"? Was going to the top of the Sears Tower getting too dull?
I love a doorman building, I love a view, I love some distance from the city sounds of sirens and jackhammers. But thirty floors'll do it. I don't need to be on the 150th. In other words, I like a skyscraper as much as the next gal — and that says it all.
I'm not in anyway suggesting that women are morally or aesthetically superior to men — far from it. A brief survey of reality TV confirms this. But really, 160 stories? Maybe they should call the building The Napoleon Complex.
Actually, they're calling it the Burj Khalifa, after the President of Abu Dhabi. You see, Dubai recently experienced a severe financial downturn, and had to be saved by their neighboring country Abu Dhabi with a huge financial bailout. The original name of the new Worlds Tallest Building was going to be the Burj Dubai, but the name was changed to Burj Khalifa as a show of gratitude and humility. Funny ... a 160 story tower being humble.
The Burj was conceived 5 years ago in the middle of a real estate frenzy, and most of the space has already been sold. So despite the downturn, the Burj is looking strong. There will eventually be 12,000 residents. That is roughly the population of my small New Jersey town. I could fit my entire town, vertically, into that building. Not that I'd want to.
The Burj is like a town unto itself. It has homes, offices, nightclubs, mosques, and the world's highest swimming pool.
Yes, indeed, the Burj offers a lifestyle like no other. The residents won't just be having a nice coffee with breakfast, they'll be having a nice coffee with breakfast really high up! They'll be blow-drying their hair ...really high up! They can help their kids with homework ... really high up! They can channel surf, rinse out their recyclables, and dust their picture frames ... really high up! Neat!
The Burj looks like a brash success story in the middle of a tough financial downturn, so I guess men and their super tall buildings constitute a good business plan. Meanwhile, New Jersey's attempt at brash success, Xanadu, remains mired in struggles. And now we know why. It's just too short. They should have made Xanadu tall. Really, really, tall.
Pam Lobley is a columnist and co-author of the book "You Definitely Know You're a Mom When ..." To read her past columns or get contact information, visit her website: www.pamlobley.com.
ALSO BY PAM LOBLEY
My 2010 New Year's resolutions
Who's afraid of same sex marriage?
As George Carlin said, why is your stuff stuff, and other people's stuff ...
I can't hear you ... I'm yelling at my kids!
‘Top talent' on bailed out Wall Street lucky to get a pay cut
New Smart Choices food label helps us eat, um, healthier
Cutting waste and fraud at home in New Jersey
Recession: It ain't over till it's over
Turning your home into a place where 'scape goats graze
Gucci shoes
http://www.sldi.org/newService/SLDIJuly2009.html
...the film HOME makes the point about the need for sustainable land development best practices by comparing the failed historical example of Easter Island to modern day monument-raising practices around the world, culminating in the tallest building in the world in Dubai. The point is that history shows us that civilization has reached its current lofty perch before, only to collapse because of fundamental flaws in our understanding of the true relationship between humans and nature...
Will Abu Dhabi Help Create a Sustainable Dubai?
http://www.sldi.org/newService/SLDIDec2009.html
If ever there was an urban area anywhere on Earth that epitomized the excesses of the boom years between 2002 and 2007, it has to be Dubai. A sign that this large-scale land development extravaganza was veering to unsustainable excess should have been Dubai’s decision to erect a 200-story building that would make it the world’s tallest structure. Other telltale signs should have been Dubai’s determination to build the world’s largest man-made artificial islands as well as a major ski resort in the desert – all developed with dwindling oil reserves, and without a source of sustainable food, fresh water or energy production for its burgeoning class-based society.
Now the financial bubble has burst and Dubai World, the emirate's largest state-owned conglomerate, has requested a "standstill" of subsidiary real estate company Nakheel's bondholders. The crisis in Dubai has gone beyond debt and become one surrounding the credibility of its leadership. Dubai World’s failure to honor its obligations has shaken faith among the international investment community in the emirate’s normally ebullient promotion of over-the-top, land-development practices. Dubai’s oil-rich banker brother, Abu Dhabi, is now in a position to require a price for restoring faith that is likely to be much more than just prudent borrowing and greater transparency. It is likely to be a demand for a restructuring at the top and a return to more sustainable principles...