City+

Both thrilling and frightening, massive urban growth is one of the global features of our time. City+ is a sprawling project that looks at urbanisation in the Middle East, Egypt and China. The photographs probe at how the challenges, opportunities and social shifts of development are reflected in each regions structures and transformations. In Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi brand new skylines have shot up in the last few decades. These once minor cities in Bedouin territory have transformed themselves into ready-made arenas for global finance and cultural showcasing. An unprecedented, streamlined urbanisation to immediately put themselves on the map. Cairo is an old city struggling with tensions of overcrowding and the social shifts globalisation can bring. This is illustrated in the striking contrasts of its development which spans from uncoordinated home building and extensions often by families themselves, through to large pre-designed satellite districts. Marassi is an otherworldly resort on the north Egyptian coast. A vast pre-designed leisure complex, 120km east of Alexandria and being built over decades, it is a resource hungry transformation of desert and harsh coastline into residential, leisure and commercial facilities. Gardens, golf courses, crisp modernist apartments and lagoons are being built from scratch in the desert. With China’s economic reform and embrace of globalisation, already large cities are being reconfigured for consumerism, corporate culture and mass migration. With slick new towers replacing communist era low-rises and hutong networks, and industrial and logistics hubs encroaching on the rural areas, a new way of life is unfurling itself over the past.

Doha & UAE

West Bay skyline on reclaimed land, Doha.

Construction & excavation for Doha metro.

Msheireb Downtown Doha.

Msheireb Downtown Doha is the wholesale re-build of an existing city centre area in Doha. Due for completion in 2020 its emerging from the traditional surrounding city like an angular, white capsule of commerce and culture.

Msheireb Museums and Archives building.

Mihrab construction, Musheireb Downtown Doha.

Hotel, Musheireb Downtown Doha.

Construction and excavation for Msheireb Metro station.

Msheireb metro station will be at the heart of the Doha Metro. All three lines will meet at this point connecting the growing commercial city and it’s suburbs. The Metro is due for completion in 2020.

The National Museum of Qatar.

Monumental in scale The National Museum of Qatar is an example of the epic urban statement that cities use to put themselves on the global map. It’s captured here unpolished and exposed. A bare structure of ambition, extravagance and innovation carving its own space into the city backdrop.

National Museum of Qatar.

The 20th century Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al-Thani’s Palace, restored and integrated as part of the new museum.

National Convention Centre, Education city, Doha.

Daria Island construction, Dubai.

Business Bay, landscaping & construction, Dubai.

Business Bay, landscaping & infrastructure, Dubai.

Central Dubai.

Burj Khalifa Lake, Burj Khalifa and Boulevard Plaza, Downtown, Dubai.

Dubai has been the most brash in the Middle East region in its embrace of corporate and commercial culture. With epic urban planning and commercial showcasing it has established itself as a global entertainment and tourist hub.

Palm Jumeirah apartments, Dubai.

Sheikh Zayed Road skyline with the Marina and Burj Al Arab in the distance, Dubai.

Skyline and infrastructure, Abu Dhabi.

New York University, Abu Dhabi.

Landscaping and infrastructure, UAE.

Photographed in 2016 this extensive landscaping is the first step in what aims to be a sustainable aerospace and technology park. Being completed in various stages it is part of the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030.

Landscaping and infrastructure, UAE.

Egypt

Urban sprawl looking towards Mokattam Hills, south east Cairo.

Mokattam Hills, Cairo.

Views from central Cairo towards the Mokattam Hills that dominate the south east and towards the pyramids of Giza to the west, show a city pushing up against its physical and historical boundaries.

Manshiyat Nase district, Cairo.

Manshiyat Nase district, overlooking the City of the Dead, Cairo.

Uncoordinated housing developments, Giza.

In areas across the city, uncoordinated building and extensions often by families themselves, is a striking feature of Cairo’s development.

Home building, Giza.

Roof extension, overlooking Old Cairo.

Apartments and billboards, New Cairo.

Landscaping and infrastructure, Cairo Festival City.

Being completed in various stages, Cairo Festival City is a prestigious 700 acre neighbourhood in New Cairo. For the affluent, it offers a commercial urban lifestyle of open spaces, malls and business parks away from the overcrowding, congestion and infrastructure problems of central Cairo.

Landscaping & villas, Cairo Festival City.

Landscaping & villas, Cairo Festival City

Landscaping and infrastructure, Cairo Festival City.

Cairo Festival City Mall.

‘Townhouse’ & landscaping, Marassi.

Photographed at different stages of development, Marassi is a grinding inversion of a harsh desert landscape to lucsious gardens, golf courses, crisp modernist apartments and lagoons.

Extensive landscaping, Marassi.

Villas & infrastructure, Marassi.

Beachfront villa, Marassi.

Lagoon, Marassi.

Beachfront villas & landscaping, Marassi.

Apartments, Marassi.

Landscaping & Beachclub entrance, Marassi.

Beachfront villa, Marassi.

Beachfront villa & construction worker, Marassi.

Beachfront villas, Marassi.

Golf course, Marassi.

Apartments & pool construction, Marassi.

Apartments & landscaping, Marassi

Beach Club, Marassi

Apartments, Marassi.

Apartments & landscaping, Marassi

‘Townhouse’ & landscaping, Marassi.

China

Industrial construction & landscaping, Eco City, Tianjin.

Villas & Landscaping, Eco City, Tianjin.

New corporate towers & communist era low-rise housing, Chengdu.

Edge of town retail village construction, Suzhou.

Edge of city retail village construction, Suzhou.

Developing an aspirational consumerism and tapping into the wealth of the affluent urban population has been a key feature of China’s economic development. Here we see a forest of scaffolding mapping out a new retail district on the edge of Sozhou.

New residential towers overlooking communist era apartment blocks, Changsha.

New retail mall among old housing clearance, Changsha.

New residential towers, Changsha.

Qianximen bridge where the Jialing and Yangtze rivers meet, Chongqing.

Skyline, industrial parks & Infrastructure, Yubei district, Chongqing Municipality.

Yangtze River, Fengdu, Chongqing Municipality.

Situated in central China, Chongqing municipality is the largest in the country. The Jialing and Yangtze rivers also meet in Chongqing city, making the area a key manufacturing and transportation hub.

Infrastructure, Daba Mountains, Hubei Province

Industrial park, near Fengdu, Chongqing Municipality.

The Daba mountains situated north east of Chongqing, dominate the route to the important cluster of large cites in east of the country; Wuhan, Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai. The dramatic mountains are peppered with the infrastructure of connection and industry linking the two key regions.

New residential towers, Shizhu.

Residential and infrastructure construction, Wuhan.

Logistics park, Wuhan.

Landscaping & residential blocks, Shenyang.

Old housing clearance, Shenyang.

Large swathes of cities are demolished neighbourhood by neighbourhood, with extensive planning re-configuring cities for commercial and corporate culture.

Rail line & construction, Beijing.

Central Business District skyline and residential, Beijing.

Wan Chai bypass construction, Hong Kong.

Hong Kong, a continually growing bay restricted city, is packed tight with innovative architecture, planning and infrastructure. Fully opened in February 2019 the Wan Chai bypass, which includes reclamation of Victoria Bay and a 3.7km tunnel, was built to ease traffic congestion in the heart of the city.

Zhangjiang High-Tech Park, Zhongke Rd. Shanghai.

Cityscape overlooking Zhangjiang High-Tech Park, Shanghai.

Middle Ring Rd. & Middle Huaxai Rd. junction, Shanghai.

Cityscape with Shanghai Tower and World Financial Centre.

The architecture of Pudong financial district pushing ever higher in an already vast city of towers, conveys well the magnitude of the urban era we’re living through.

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