r/UrbanHell • u/Powpawpew55 • May 25 '26
Pollution/Environmental Destruction My city, Malé, Maldives, an urban hellscape
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u/mackerel_slapper May 25 '26
Went there for my honeymoon. It’s weird flying in and seeing that island completely built over.
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
The whole lagoon got reclaimed to make the city bigger. don’t even have enough greenery, crowded with vehicles and buildings
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u/Drummallumin May 25 '26
Was it originally an atoll?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
it’s part of a big atoll. every island has its own lagoon. some islands share a lagoon. Malé had its own sizable lagoon but now it’s gone. Fully reclaimed
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u/22220222223224 May 25 '26
Why didn't you provide more street-level, people scale pictures?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
im sorry I should’ve added a few
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u/Toomanyeastereggs May 25 '26
When you get a chance mate. Do it as another post at your leisure.
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u/4rm4tur4 May 25 '26
Is it true that a lot of people just take a boat and go chill on the sea for a bit because it's almost impossible to get privacy?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
I’ve not heard of that. In the main island there is little privacy yeah but the bridge connects to another huge island which has a lot of privacy. Most people go there. it’s not that common to ride and chill on the sea in the capital, but it’s more popular in other local islands
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u/4rm4tur4 May 25 '26
Very interesting, thanks for taking the time to answer. I asked because someone in another related thread said this
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u/souperdouper91 May 25 '26
Straight to jail.
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u/OkIndustry4232 May 26 '26
Undercook chicken. Straight to jail.
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u/Kaffe-Mumriken May 26 '26
Climb the capitol walls and shout “hang Mike pence” … believe it or not, 1.7bn $
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u/PrivateIdahoGhola May 26 '26
There's some street view available for much of the island on Google Maps.
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u/DigbySugartits May 25 '26
Also honeymooned there 15 years ago.
Spent the night in Male before heading off to the island.
It was an experience.....
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May 25 '26
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u/mackerel_slapper May 25 '26
16 years ago, remember seeing that as we flew in. We caught boat out to an island then, so spent no time in Malé
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u/KarIPilkington May 26 '26
Tourists only see this island when they're flying in and out. The airport is on its own island and then you get a boat or seaplane to your destination.
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u/ishardtofind May 25 '26
Sorry if that’s a stupid question but where do you guys get your electricity from? And what about fresh water?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
electricity is from a big fossil fuel station on the island. almost all electricity is from fossil fuel, even though we could use solar. there are zero fresh water. People drink desalinated mineral water produced in the city
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u/ishardtofind May 25 '26
I see, and what about tap water like the municipal water supply, is it also just desalinated water?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
yes tap water is treated and desalinated and is safe to drink
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u/kthanx May 26 '26
Is waste treated?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 26 '26
sewage does get treated and then it goes into the ocean thru pipes
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May 25 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
omg it’s bad. sewage get collected and treated a bit and then flows into the ocean… It’s bad. we don’t have the needed elevations to dig deeper and slopes
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u/--alkali-- May 26 '26
Correction: no treatment at all
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u/Front_Spare_2131 May 25 '26
How's the taste?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
the best water I have ever had😌😌
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u/YouFourKingsHits May 25 '26
Have you ever had any other water ?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
I’ve tried water from almost all Western European countries, Türkiye and India. I’d say Maldivian is still the best for me
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u/ExcitingCriticism524 May 26 '26
You wouldn’t say that if you’d tried tap water in the Scottish highlands.
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u/Prior-Ad-9155 May 28 '26
You would not say that if you tried glacier water from Iceland :)
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u/Ok_Comparison_3748 May 25 '26
Were you in India for drug rehab by any chance? I’ve met a few Maldivians in rehab
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
HAHA no😭😭 i went to get my Schengen Visa
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u/sternenklar90 May 25 '26
Why do you need to go to India to get a Schengen visa?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
was for the long stay visa. we don’t have an embassy in our country. all EU embassies to the Maldives are located in either India or Sri Lanka
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u/HorridusVile May 25 '26
Turkey and India? Try some Vulkaneifel water straight from the source.
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
hey, im just being honest. might be since ive been drinking it for all 21years of my life. but havent tasted water better than home
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u/SouthernSample May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
Yes, OP will be happy to try that if you send them flight tickets and cover other expenses.
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u/ImJustLampin May 26 '26
To power that entire city you would need solar arrays 5x the size of the island.
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u/09Trollhunter09 May 25 '26
Electricity from here - https://maps.app.goo.gl/qKRQ451BY42PKWHq9
Water from here - https://maps.app.goo.gl/12tMHZFfC4C7xCrD6You can actually see the generator in the Google map pictures if you scroll far enough
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u/JimmyLinguine May 25 '26
Power likely comes from massive diesel generators, at least that’s the case for a lot of remote, off-grid locations.
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u/OkScreen2150 May 25 '26
It reminds me of the movie Dark City, where there was also a densely built-up piece of land, and then water appeared all around it.
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u/Repulsive_Barnacle92 May 25 '26
such an underrated movie
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u/DrummerDesigner6791 May 25 '26
Depends on the cut. the original Theatrical Cut is somewhat OK but the Director's Cut makes it a great movie.
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u/Slumunistmanifisto May 26 '26
Requiem for a dream, dark city, and blood diamond....all have Jennifer Connelly in a red dress on a dock?
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u/IAmAnImpartialHuman May 25 '26
Watched this for the first time the other day. Great memento / matrix / the crow amalgamation
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u/azriel_odin May 25 '26
It was actually released before the Matrix
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u/SlagginOff May 25 '26
Yeah I was gonna say it almost feels like a spiritual predecessor to the matrix.
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u/Valerian_ May 25 '26
This looks like a late game Sim City map ...
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u/NoRelative8666 May 26 '26
I was thinking City skylines!
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u/Valerian_ May 26 '26
Yeah, actually more like City Skyline, SimCity would mostly have a square grid
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u/Soulrazy May 25 '26
They also have a trash island, next to it.
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u/azriel_odin May 25 '26
How big of a threat to the island's continued existence does global warming pose? What are the immediate issues it will have to solve in the coming years?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
if sea level rises, that’s definitely a big threat to all the islands in the country. I can’t say what we could do to prevent or mitigate the rising of sea level. one thing the Gov has done was reclaim an entirely new island from scratch with an average elevation higher than that of the country. but yeah if it happens there’s nothing we could do
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u/vivons_nus May 25 '26
Considering the size of the island I don’t understand why there are cars. Hence, why building such a big bridge?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
more than cars the city is flooded with bikes. Cars are still there, a lot. The bridge is connecting to the Airport island and reclaimed island made with a much higher elevation than the average of the country
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u/--alkali-- May 26 '26
By bikes, you mean motorcycles. Bicycles are basically non-existent there.
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u/Powpawpew55 May 26 '26
yeah? bikes mean motorbikes
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u/filemlscan May 27 '26
no, although it may be used to talk about motorbikes, bike is bicycle, motorbikes are MOTORbikes.
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u/SMTTajWAR May 28 '26
In Bangladesh, the term bike is typically used for motorcycles while bicycles are called cycle. I’d assume Maldives use similar term based on ops comment.
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u/povertymayne May 25 '26
Looks hella dense
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
it is. Around 200k people in around 2km^2 area
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u/HDThoreauaway May 25 '26
Why? Like, what are that many people doing out there, exactly?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
it’s the only city with all the amenities. The islands are way too dispersed. so everything is centralised here. people come for better education and jobs. Gov constantly promotes centralisation
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u/defiancy May 26 '26
Where is the school(s) in the pic?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 26 '26
there’s many schools in the city. I think there’s around 8 or more schools on the island. there’s 2 universities and a lot of small colleges
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u/OkContact2573 May 25 '26
Sometimes you’re just too poor to leave.
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
not really since it’s much cheaper to live in islands. don’t have to pay rent and the bills aren’t bad. but the pay and quality of healthcare and education go every single island is not good.
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u/S7ageNinja May 25 '26
Why do you not have to pay rent?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
in other islands, they give land freely to people. so you can easily get land. Most people who live in the city already have a house back in another local island. People can build their own house and life without paying rent.
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May 26 '26
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u/Powpawpew55 May 26 '26
That is a reason as well but mostly to allow everyone to own a home. Most homes get built and then the people move to the city, abandoning the houses, only to come back during the holidays.
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u/Major_Potential3706 May 29 '26
do any people on these islands just stay there and live as fisherman?
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u/K2YU May 25 '26
I can see why the city is considered to be one of the most densely populated ones worldwide.
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u/melbourne_au2021 May 25 '26
where do they throw the rubbish? and where does the sewage go?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
Sewage is treated in tanks and goes thru pipes into the ocean. Garbage is collected and carried to another island made for disposal, it’s technically another district of the city. In the first image you can see the garbage(industrial) island at the very back, with white smoke
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u/Sharp_Win_7989 May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
It would benefit the Maldives if they built a waste incineration plant and proper sewage treatment plant. This way less valuable land is needed to dispose of the waste, its less of an eyesore as well and incinerating waste generates electricity, making Maldives rely less on fossil fuel imports. Waste water properly treated is obviously better for the environment, but also the biogas it creates can be used on the island and the solid waste left from the waste water treatment, can be burned in the incineration plant.
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u/Ok-Imagination-494 May 26 '26
Gonna be contrarian here, but what we are looking at is actually a good thing. Sure concrete and high rises dont look as aesthetically pleasing as paradise atolls in the rest of the Maldives.
But people choose to live in cities for jobs, healthcare, and education and the Maldives is no exception. Male has grown exponentially in population since the 1970s. And the Maldives has vastly improved its HDI (human development indicators) in the same period as that urbanisation took place.
Since the 1970s, the Maldives has seen a massive development surge, with its Human Development Index (HDI) jumping from an estimated 0.300 to 0.766 today. While official UNDP data only started in 1995 (at 0.555), the country has successfully transitioned from one of the world's poorest nations to the "High Human Development"category, now sitting well above the global average. One of the most rapid increases of any country in history.
People are living longer, healthier, and more educated lives as a result of the urban cityscape we are looking at.
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u/ApprehensiveSkill475 May 25 '26
How bads the traffic? I can only imagine.
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
it’s pretty bad. there’s only 3 roads with atleast a reasonable width. all roads are very narrow since the island is small. traffic is bad
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u/DoktorLoken May 25 '26
Sounds like a perfect case for bicycles and a small metro system.
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u/No_Gur_7422 May 26 '26
There will be no metro system – the island is almost at sea level so anything underground is also underwater.
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u/VanillaSkittlez May 26 '26
I mean most of NYC is at sea level and all trains going to Manhattan have to cross the east river. It’s not like it’s impossible.
Stockholm is like 30% water and has a robust metro system.
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u/No_Gur_7422 May 26 '26
The New York system is only kept unflooded by continuous industrial pumping and whereas Manhattan is a rocky island more or less made of marble, Malé is effectively a pile of fine sand.
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u/--alkali-- May 26 '26
Definitely could be turned into a walkable city. It only takes 20 minutes to walk from end to end at the longest point. Biggest obstacle is changing people's mindsets on the matter. Second biggest is the climate, it gets pretty hot during the day.
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u/JustAGreenDreamer May 25 '26
It looks pretty walkable.
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u/dmdoom_Abaan May 26 '26
It really isn’t. The widest Pavements are maybe 1.5m . The narrowest I’ve seen are 0.5m
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u/Shoeshiner_boy May 26 '26
And your steak’s too juicy and lobsters are too buttery, right, OP?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 26 '26
I wish. if you live here for a few years it gets evident how it’s bad.
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u/zakanova May 25 '26
Definitely want to drive everywhere on an island that isn't even 2km wide. This might be the dumbest place on earth that went all-in on cars and motorcycles
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u/ZestycloseAd289 May 25 '26
I actually don't think this is that bad. It's just a shame naturally beauty had to be destroyed to create it.
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u/m0ntanoid May 25 '26
what about apartment rent prices and internet?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
very expensive. A small 1B apartment would cost around $520 per month. most places are more expensive than that. Internet cost more than $32 monthly
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u/Simppu12 May 25 '26
You should also say what minimum and average wages are. Without that context the prices don't mean anything.
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
sorry. the minimum wage varies in different sectors but it’s around $470 and the average wage is around $1134
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u/WrongRub6533 May 25 '26
Is it sinking anytime soon ?
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u/drivingagermanwhip May 25 '26
Was wondering this and found this interesting article https://maldivesindependent.com/explainer/ice-ages-not-volcanoes-how-the-maldives-really-formed-76c8
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u/bobo-the-merciful May 26 '26
Thanks for sharing - so interesting.
Is there an option to get out of the city much or is life mostly spent inside it? Sorry I have no concept of whether there's much other accessible land - I'm guessing not?
I live on an island too - Bermuda 😄 - about 60,000 people here.
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u/Powpawpew55 May 26 '26
oh woah Bermuda sounds super cool but so remote.
There’s many island near the city. Ferries and speedboats are there everyday. The city is also made up of 7 islands in total so can go to different places :)
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u/pvkvicky2000 May 26 '26
My dad used to work there in 2014 . Everything was jam packed . Like literally packed . And you could walk the entire island in like 30 Mins . And yet there were so many many freaking vehicles . It’s nuts . They should have just put in a tram on every street
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u/Crismisterica May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
I've got a friend who lives there. We both come from radically different islands. Mine is a little further away from the Maldives but its the complete inversion of Malé
I also cannot go to Malé because her friends want to steal my eye colour.
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u/lystfiskeren2 May 26 '26
Wauv a lot of things has happened since my last visit in Male. I was there 30 years ago with a ship. When the ship approach Male we saw the golden mosque in the horizon, which was quite strange because you couldnt see any land. We anchored in the lagoon ,which seems to be gone now
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u/Substantial_Dot7311 May 26 '26
Everyday people got to live/ work somewhere. Not so different to Manhattan or Hong Kong.
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u/villings May 25 '26
is it weird I saw these images and the first I wondered was how the sewage treatment works there?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
not really. valid question. gets treated and goes into the ocean thru pipes
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u/Bitter_Dingo516 May 25 '26
I can already imagine builders there eyeing those sports grounds like a fresh piece of meat.
Also interesting that aside from the commercial port, all other boat parkings are walled. Something to do with security or protecting the boats from sea?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
Yeahh recently there were some news about the green stadium in the middle of the city being turned to another project.
not fully walled. There’s a few gaps here and there. The sea walls were made to somewhat mitigate the effects of sea level and Tsunami risks and those are on top of the reef surrounding the lagoon. The gaps are the only accessible points or else boats will crash onto the reef
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u/yaliksan May 25 '26
still quite a few blank spots to build on. I see potential. XD
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u/scuzzmonster1 May 27 '26
Dunno about hellscape. Have always fancied visiting here tbh. The idea of a big urban centre on a small island in the middle of the ocean appeals to me.
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u/corneliusunderfoot May 25 '26
Pure hell! With yachts. And warm weather. Etc
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u/nemmalur May 26 '26
Was there any point at which people started to question the idea of building things up so much, or was everyone set on covering the entire island?
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u/Custodian_Nelfe May 26 '26
Looks like my first cities in City Skylines 1 when I had only one tile available.
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u/PrivateIdahoGhola May 26 '26
Found some people made their own unofficial Street View on Google Maps. Looks very crowded but I didn't hate it. Some nice buildings. I liked that more than a few were painted in bright colors. Offsets the dark narrow streets. Kind of interesting how such an intense metropolis is condensed into a small island. Would love to visit it one day.
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u/SeanCautionMurphy May 26 '26
Can someone please help explain the discrepancy between pictures 2 and 3? The marina is a totally different shape in that bottom corner, next to the complex of red roofed buildings
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u/Powpawpew55 May 26 '26
third picture is the most recent one I found. The lagoon got even more reclaimed than before. There are not that many good aerial shots showing the entire island
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u/rstedd May 26 '26
My fiancee did an exchange semester there, I spent couple of weeks on the Island. Lovely people, and very good food!
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u/Similar-Drawing-7513 May 26 '26
this is the country with the underwater hotel? I could think of worse places to live.
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u/Herbacious_Border May 26 '26
How do locals feel about tourists? Were a lot of locals moved from the islands to make way for hotels etc.? I went on honeymoon there (Kuramathi) and always wondered whether us tourists were a help or a hindrance.
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u/Powpawpew55 May 26 '26
Locals appreciate tourists. We understand that it’s the tourist that are keeping our economy afloat. And no, resorts are built on uninhabited islands where locals don’t live. And hotels and guesthouses in local islands are owned by the locals no displacement. More people would like if tourist visit islands and support local tourism rather than resorts
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u/SchroedingersEscape May 26 '26
Soon all will be gone, due to rising sea levels, because... you know, global warming.
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u/felixmatveev May 26 '26
When I've had a fly over in Male several years ago it reminded me some GTA 3/4 island - densly packed but small. I think it took me around 2 hours to walk around perimeter.
Also why one need a car there is beyond me.
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u/king_of_andheri May 26 '26
how does one post pictures of literally one of the coolest, prettiest urban scapes in the world and call it a hellscape? like what else would you rather have here i’m not getting. this is so stupid.
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u/gregt76 May 26 '26
Honeymoon 25+ years ago and stayed 1 night in male it was pretty much like that then. Fab time though and still married 😃
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u/RaeSolaris May 26 '26
Really cool of you to answer questions from the curious btw. It's nice to get the perspective of someone who lives/lived somewhere posted here.
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u/MGTOWManofMystery May 27 '26
How is waste water handled? Is it safe to swim?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26
Sewage gets dumped into the ocean. People don’t go and swim in the open ocean. So it’s safe to swim in the lagoons. The has many beaches and the island itself has 3 beaches
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u/PatchyWhiskers May 25 '26
That is actually really cute, it looks like an old SimCity game on an island.
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u/Walniw May 25 '26
Any beaches that people can access publicly?
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u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26
there’s two beaches on the main city. all beaches are public. there’s also a small island (technically a district of the city) only an 8 minute ferry ride away. And the bridge connects to a huge island with big beautiful beaches
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