Thursday, January 22, 2015

The urban divide

Yesterday I posted about Yasmin Alibhai Brown's comments on inequality and in particular the way the super-rich feel like they can act however they want with impunity and without consideration for anyone else. And today, a jaw-dropping example of just that: Eko Atlantic, the privatised city currently under construction on an artificial island on the Nigerian coastline.

The developers claim it will be both "sustainable" and help to mitigate against the local effects of climate change, but the reality is shaping up to be rather different: "Protected by guards, guns, and an insurmountable gully – real estate prices – the rich will shield themselves from the rising tides of poverty and a sea that is literally rising. A world in which the rich and powerful exploit the global ecological crisis to widen and entrench already extreme inequalities and seal themselves off from its impacts – this is climate apartheid". It's the very stuff of dystopian science fiction.

(Thanks to Raoul for the link.)

No comments: