Normally, Singapore is the East Asian country that keeps trying to force us to visit by creating magical green infrastructure. But now its neighbor Malaysia is getting in on the act, too. The country is planning a huge, super eco-friendly city called Iskandar Malaysia, which is supposed to have 3 million residents by 2025. It’s also going to be as big in area as Luxembourg.
Iskandar Malaysia will be powered entirely by green energy. All the waste will be diverted. If this thing gets built, Grist HQ will have to relocate there on principle.
Of course, it’s still just an idea, as the buzzkills at the Guardian remind us:
New eco-cities have been planned in the past, from China to the US, but most have floundered. China’s Dongtan was heralded as the world’s first planned eco-city, but plans have been mired in difficulty for years. A UK project for “eco-towns” was widely ridiculed and has been all but abandoned.
For the record, we’d rather live in a Malaysian eco-city than a U.K. eco-town anyway. (Better food.)
