Where is Yangon Going?

Where is Yangon going?

We are scared about the news, that Mandalay Golden Wings Construction company unveiled plans to build the country’s tallest building in Yangon’s Mayangone township. (see: http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/business/property-news/2724-mgw-plans-nations-tallest-
building.html ) The company has started work on the US$60-million, 34-storey Diamond Inya Palace building on a 2-acre block near Inya Lake, and expects to finish by the end of 2015, a Mandalay Golden Wings spokesperson said last week.

We ask the question if Yangon has decided to go the way of its neighbors, where former typical Asian-style of cities have lost their identity by mistaking socio-economic progress with the cementification of the environment , copying the high-rise skyline of New York.

Whereas in NY it has been justified by the limited space of the island of Manhattan, this has not been the case in, for example, Kuala Lumpur, where a streetwalker today can hardly see the sky (see the photo below!). And limited space is neither the situation of Yangon, where there is plenty of space for sustainable urban development. Therefore, Myanmar please wake up and prepare a construction code which preserves instead of destroying Yangon´s unique urban identity!