Tuesday, August 19, 2008

LYONS-DUBAI: The First Cloned City in Dubai


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If man can clone a sheep, they sure as hell can clone a city...

I came across this article while browsing through BLDG Blog. Dubai, the metropolis of the future, plans to built the world’s first cloned city.

A businessman from the Arab Emirate of Dubai has launched plans to reconstruct the French city of Lyon also known as Lyons, right down to its cafés, cinemas and schools.

The apparent ‘reconstruction’ will exclude the decrepit tower blocks and any traces of urban violence. The city of Lyon will be ‘idealized’ and stripped from any authenticity. The city’s historical roots and cultural background is not taken into account with the construction of the ‘New Lyons’.

When I think about this development, the word ‘theme park’ comes to mind. Is it more than just another ‘entertainment landscape’ to appear in the vast dessert of Dubai? Will it be a greater experience to travel to the 'fake' city of Lyon than it would be to see the real Lyon in France?

The 500 million euro megalopolis dubbed 'Lyons-Dubai' will even have a hotel school run by the institute of Lyon chef Paul Bocuse and a football training center run by the Olympique Lyonnais team.

Lyons and Dubai had already signed a 'pact of cooperation and friendship'. The new Lyons will cover an area of about 700 acres, roughly the size of the latin quarter of Paris.

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