In 2014, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) launched the Impact KAEC Fellowship in 2014, inviting three students from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design for a hands-on experience in urban planning. The 2014-2015 Fellowship began in October 2014 and ended in March 2015.
KAEC fellows “were placed within business units in the city to bring fresh ideas and strategic recommendations,” according to information on newcitiesfoundation.org website. “They also conducted their own personal research.”
The fellows, Heidi Cho, Edward Meng, and Tiffany Obser, spent 6 months at KAEC to observe the development of the brand new city.
“I was excited by the prospect of being an Impact KAEC Fellow because it offers the unique opportunity to live and work in KAEC at a time when the city is boldly moving away from traditional planning, opening up to foreign investment, and promoting female employment and tourism,” wrote Tiffany Obser, in a blog post on newcitiesfoundation.org. “The average new city skyline is a graph of the surging global economy, pixelated with buildings by internationally renowned architects; rigid color blocks demarcate distinct swaths of program in the accompanying plans. But architecture should be a catalyst: it is the space where people meet, where they perform, and where ideas are cultivated. KAEC can distinguish itself from other new cities by ensuring that design plays an affirming role in cross-fertilization.”
Obser is a graduate of Harvard’s Design School and a dual German/American citizen with global experience in design projects.
In another post, Impact KAEC fellow Heidi Cho wrote that the program gave her the “opportunity to live and work in a brand new city and help shape its evolution.”
KAEC’s cost is estimated to be around $100bn. A recent estimate put work on the city at 15% complete.
