Eight years out from likely hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar has a lot of infrastructure to construct. (The human rights issues stemming from that massive, nationwide construction project is an issue unto itself.) Not only will the oil-rich country build 10 stadiums, but the country will create an entire city from scratch.
The city, located 13.6 miles north of the capital Doha, will be called Lusail and completed in six years, "opening" in 2020 after construction started in 2006. It will be a completely green, 14-square-mile city built to hold a population of 450,000, including 200,000 residents, 170,000 workers and 80,000 visitors. Total cost? $45 billion.
Lusail's design features include: four man-made islands, a blue lagoon with two marinas, 25,000 residential buildings, five stadiums and 22 hotels. A network of 10 underground pedestrian tunnels will keep people out of the Qatari heat, a fact that was seemingly overlooked in awarding the World Cup to the country. The centerpiece of the city will be the 80,000-seat soccer stadium featuring man-made clouds that will block the sun and keep the players on the field cool.
Over 10 percent of the residential buildings in the city will come from the Al-Sidra Golf Residential Development, an 890-acre development featuring 3,200 homes around a Greg Norman-designed golf course and Chris Evert tennis academy.
These drawings are rough renderings at best; Norman doesn't have the design listed on his firm's website.
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