Why Kuwait Is Building This Strange City

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Video description:
In this city almost every resident has their own beach access on a lagoon that leads directly into the sea. But constructing such a city meant overcoming tremendous engineering problems.
Images via Getty
Map source by MapTiler / OpenStreetMap Contributors via Geolayers 3

[@D_B_44]

I’m Canadian and lived in Kuwait for 6 years. I stayed at a chalet in this city for a weekend, much of the land is still undeveloped, but it is certainly cool to admire the engineering behind it all

[@Redhanium]

Kuwaiti here. Amazing video, and it's true that's not a city like you would expect it to be, but I believe it was designed from the start to become like this (have private villas, or as we call them in Kuwait as shalet's). Because if you see the rest of the country, it is all the same way, private residences connected with roads that are strictly car dependent. You might think it looks bad compared to European standards, but it works good to some degree. And the country is car dependent because no one wants to walk anywhere in the sun, you literally will get a heat stroke if you walk mid day in the summer. Hope that gives you just a little bit of context.

[@gnarlytreeman]

They need to plant coconuts, fig trees, date palms, and pomegranites near the coast. They are salt hardy. Coconut can be irrigated with salt water, and will eventually provide enough ground cover to create good soil.

[@intreoo]

I absolutely love how this city is designed to work harmoniously with nature and even create new habitats. That is the mindset all new development should have, because asides from being harmful to the surrounding environment in the short term, any development that goes against the laws of nature is bound to fail one way or another, for we can never win against something we are a part of.

[@AxolotlPines]

I'm Kuwaiti and lived most of my life in Kuwait, and as a person who's family had a chalet in Al Khiran on the tidal creeks before the project started showing results and more people started populating the area, I always wondered why this project was started and this video not only illuminated why they chose to do this project, but also how it's harmonious with the environment and how long this was planned. Thank you for making such a nice video!

[@marvellousmeatball123]

After having watched all 40 videos prior to this, the intro still gives me chills. Every. Single. Time.

[@ianwilliams7629]

I was fortunate to be the project director on this project from 2005 to 2015 and have to say it’s very accurate and well done. Some of the environmental aspect couldn’t have been more prominent, especially the number one new scientific species discovered and the natural recolonisation of corals. However, all in all very good.

[@juliansenfr]

This video phenomenally displays the difference between careful, elaborate & impeccable planning in Kuwait compared to the unsustainable failures built from impulse in Dubai

[@Abdullah-zt4gu]

Good job 🇰🇼 .. love from KSA 🇸🇦

[@HiyaVata]

Proud to say my father "Miodrag Lukic" know to everyone here in Kuwait as Mr. Miki :) was one of the main surveyors for this project from day one until it was finished . He was also one of the people caught on camera at the beginning of the video when Iraq invaded. He was held hostage for a day until they realized where he was from and let him go.

[@eringanley1796]

Best way to start the week is seeing a new video from Neo - it's great learning about things happening around the world I otherwise never would have known about. Thanks for another great video!!

[@RK-id9xx]

I am an Indian born here and living here for 24 years and I have been to khiran in the beginning. Its developed a lot since then, Kiran is really a master piece!

[@JavierRodriguez-lv1so]

Im living in Kuwait since 2019 and even i appreciate the effort, because is far better than Dubai Palms, they need more to fix other problems more than create new spaces for shalets/villas. Great video

[@Dub105]

Humans and building cities are never ending stories. It always amazes me.

[@BenMattthews]

Still the greatest intro on KZbin, gets you so pumped for the video!

[@SouthCountyDreaming]

Dubai tried something similar with the Arabian Canal development, but it seemed to have far fewer entrances to the sea. They were able to link the creek back again to the sea a few years ago and have turned the majority of Downtown into an island. Not sure how the long term development of that area has worked out though.

[@mukhtar__]

as someone who's just getting into After Effects and Illustrator, i just can't have enough appreciation for the amount of effort that goes into these videos. from choosing a topic to research to scripting to actually creating those visuals, this is just incredible!

[@Sagadali523]

I'm a 14-year-old Iraqi and I support Kuwait because my father told me so much about Gulf War and he still loved that country. If I go to Kuwait, I would be on vacation for just like 3 months

[@gustavsmit23]

Love,love,love these type of videos...Thank you neo for never disappointing

[@Tony-theGreat]

As a Kuwaiti thank you for making this video, my country is very underrated in the media