Back in 2017, I attended a talk by Prof. Alberico B. Belgiojoso titled “The 1970 Vision for Kuwait City” where he shared some various interesting plans that never got implemented. One plan to help reduce traffic congestion in the city center included building multistory parking lots on the outskirts of the city and then connecting them to the city center and various office towers via suspended monorails. Since that talk I’ve been trying to find a decent photo of the proposal and the best I’ve been able to find is the one above which I scanned from a booklet I borrowed off a friend. It’s a government booklet titled Urban Development in Kuwait “التطور والعمران قي الكويت”.
Thanks @_M87
15 replies on “1970s Vision of Kuwait City”
https://books.google.com.kw/books?id=pdIPEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA72&lpg=PA72&dq=Lyman+Richardson+monorail&source=bl&ots=d1TUbQKOYM&sig=ACfU3U0PCSTSF3Xv_eMTM5cLY8mRucsf9Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiozqLm0b7wAhUIXsAKHTrJASQQ6AEwD3oECBQQAw#v=onepage&q=Lyman%20Richardson%20monorail&f=false
There are some images of the proposed monorail in this book.
What would Kuwait have been if these 70’s developments had taken place and if Saddam never crossed the lines.
We would’ve lived in that world’s version of this world’s Dubai or maybe a country that could rival Dubai.
It’s pretty but also pretty pointless. The amount of people living in the city centre are negligible and to have this monorail system would require a massive parking infrastructure. For this to even by considerable by any decent policy maker the city centre needs a large population and all the facilities needed e.g government clinics and a gov co-op to ensure a high ridership. The city Center has a small population and a minuscule Kuwaiti population, so it will be a waste of money. I dont agree with the dubai policy of “build it and they will come” it has been proven to be a flawed school of thought. Pretty things cost a pretty penny, I would prefer that penny invested in a pretty useful hospital.
Pointless? I take it you’ve never been to Kuwait City during the day? It’s heavily populated (that’s where all the offices are), very congested and parking lots are always packed with lines of cars waiting outside to get in as well as all the illegal parking. When people go to work in the morning where do you think they’re heading?
This Kuwait City vision from the 70s foresaw all this happening.
Just so we are clear, how does one get to Kuwait city from salmiyah?
I think you didn’t understand how this is meant to work.
You drive from your home to a parking lot outside the city. You would then take the monorail from outside the city into the city. So if you work in hamra tower which doesn’t have any parking ever. You park your car in a bigger lot outside the city and then take monorail to hamra tower.
That’s how it’s done in a lot of cities around the world. When I was in Netherlands a couple of years back, when I’d drive to Amsterdam from where I was staying in the North, I’d park the car in one of the lots outside the city and then take subway into the city.
So you want to build parkings to cover all these tens of thousands of people rather than just have a decent bus system which takes you from Salmiya to your building or at the very least with a short walking distance? There are already people promoting bus usage, more bus usage increases the willingness to invest in buses. Personally i am willing to sacrifice my time in exchange for the comfort of my car, I dont blame anyone who thinks the opposite but what you are asking is difficult. When you are on the road next time imagine what kind of multi-storey parking lot can take in all these cars one at a time.
It sounds very nice on paper but I assure you, it won’t work. For this to work you need a high density metro inter-connected to the monorail and an efficient bus system.
Buses take you from your home to the metro, metro takes you from Salmiya to kuwait city and the monorail takes you to your work place. It requires each of these to work perfectly without a delay so you wont over pack the metro, bus or monorail cars.
It is possible but honestly as an economist.. i would never recommend it, i would boost the bus system and use the billion dinars saved into something useful like supporting an industry or solar power-plants
I don’t understand this mentality of picking just 1 thing to do. Why do you want to do either or, you can do both you know. But also lets be realistic, people who work at Hamra Tower or NBK HQ will not take the bus to work. This proposed system is actually something people would use.
This comment +1. In every major city in the US, there is a stigma with rising the bus. Not so with a light rail system. In Europe, buying a day pass for light rail is hands down easier and more appealing than hopping on the bus.
And yes…a combination of the two would work quite well.
I just read you Amsterdam comment, the greater Amsterdam metropolitan area has a population of over a million people. They will definitely use public transportation as it is more efficient. But how many people do you know that live within the first ring road? That was my comment, you need people to live in kuwait city to make this work. You need people limit the tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands who arrive into the city. How many parking lots will be needed? In the small area around monorail stations. Mark look at this critically.
Why do people have to live within the first ring road? Why do people have to live in the city for this to work? If they already live in the city they don’t have to commute to the city!
My guess is you’re in your teens and so are at school during the day, or you don’t live in Kuwait because you obviously haven’t been to Kuwait City during the day and have no idea what people do there.
Even your comment about how this idea is a bad thing because it needs a lot of parking spots is absurd. You don’t have enough parking spots as is now so how is creating more parking spots a bad thing?
I am a 22 year old economist with a degree from the London school of economics. And i have seen Kuwait during the day, i have to work there. In my free time I love city planning and i took mini courses at my uni, i had this idea and the professor told me what i told you. I have the plans i drew up if you like. While I respect your views, I recommend rather than make assumptions you take this issue to a professional city planner and explain our views because you are hellbent on this working.
Park and ride, as these systems are called, are meant to help alleviate rush hour traffic in city centres when they are overpowered and fully taken over by car traffic. Your point of view doesn’t make sense. These systems are not made to serve people living in the city center, and therefore the population and density of city center living is not important at all. They are meant to serve commuters who drive to the city daily. Everything needs parking in Kuwait because our infrastructure puts cars first. Creating an effective park and ride system in the city would give back the built environment to pedestrians and public transport. This creates a knock on effect of revitalising the city center, as an economist im surprised you don’t understand the benefits of giving back the streets to pedestrians and public transport.
A shame it wasn’t implemented. It often feels like the powers that be here are against any real progress.