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The location of urban growth is influenced by a number of factors. Historically ports and crossroads have been important. In the industrial age, the presence of natural resources such as iron and coal drew factories and workers. Climate, water, and nearby land for garden agriculture are also factors. The invention of cheap and easy air-conditioning has made areas with very hot climates more attractive.
When geographic, political and cash-flow factors converge in our increasingly global and mobile world, hyper-growth occurs. It presents challenges of logistics, resources and coordination to project planners. There are also opportunities. When large districts are the unit of expansion, the possibility of organizing them well is evident. Districts for 50,000 or 100,000 residents are planned from scratch on green-field sites (that may be brown due to lack of rainfall). APMs are useful mobility to structure new urban districts and regions into sustainable living.
Planned cities have happened in the past. Washington, DC and other national capitals come to mind.
Today Dubai and Abu Dhabi are experiencing hyper-growth. In a harsh arid climate, they were small towns a few decades ago. Dubai had about 50,000 residents in the 1960s. By 2000 its population – largely from Pakistan and India but other places as well – passed one million, and is currently estimated (who can count so fast?) at 1.5 million. With the government eager to expand Dubai aims to be a global hub of finance, winter tourism and just-in-time commerce. Some experts predict that the population will soon top 5 million in a 200-kilometer Gulf corridor of over 10 million inhabitants. That’s an accommodation of almost 200,000 new residents every year!
To retard and perhaps reverse growing congestion that accompanies growth in a land where gasoline is cheap, a massive transit development program is underway in Dubai. Its spines are APMs designed as driverless metros. Two lines are underway, the first to open next year. Two more are planned, and several district circulators are underway to link outlying development to metro stations.
 Are PRT-friendly plans for carbon-neutral Masdar in Abu Dhabi a breakthrough or a heat-drenched mirage? |
Abu Dhabu, as part of this Linear City, soon will undertake a metro system. Its plans for the Masdar Carbon-Neutral urban district are investigating transport pods for intra-neighborhood movement and intercept parking. Opportunity for Sustainable TransportToday with the renewed consciousness of global climate change, the need for transport that is non-polluting and energy efficient is being explored in these new hyper-growth urban developments. The key to managing hyper-growth is the close coordination of transport infrastructure with sustainable land use development. The planning and implementation of London’s Docklands district is a good example of how the delivery of APM services is almost as flexible as that of buses. APMs delivery efficient and effective mobility with the added advantage that the permanence of rail track and stations imparts to developers and residents alike. Small APMs can be built with impressive speed. If good site conditions and supervision are in place, projects of a kilometer can be built, installed, and ready for service in less than a year. Dubai’s driverless metro is being built with impressive speed. |
