 Megaprojects
Projects are huge either in scale and/or cost. These include hydroelectric dams, irrigation systems, coastal reclamation, river diversion, deforestation, ocean mining, surface mining, including mountain top removal, military ecologies, construction of new cities and capitals, airports, harbors, railroads, airlines, and highways, hotels, theme parks, tourist developments. Other issues include construction companies, major financial institutions (IMF, World Bank), etc.
Examples of recently constructed megaprojects
- Three Gorges Dam in China
- Itaipu Dam in southern Brazil
- Irrigation that lowers the Aral Sea
- The English Chunnel
- Boston’s Big Dig
- Straightening of the lower Mississippi River
- River diversion schemes in Russia
- Coastal reclamation in the Netherlands
- Burj Dubai (new hotel) in Dubai
- Palm Islands in the United Arab Emirates
- Megatourist developments in the Caribbean and elsewhere
- Beijing-Lhasa Railroad
- New capital cities in Brazil, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, and Pakistan
- Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur
- Construction of the Trans Amazon highway
- Surface mining in in Africa, Australia, Canada, Russia, US, Brazil
- Mountain top removal in Appalachia, deep sea mining and fishing
- Off-shore mining in the North Sea, Louisiana, Nigeria, and in the
- Persian/Saudi Gulf
- Kansai airport in Japan
- Indian Quadrangle Road Project
- Nuclear power and desalinization plants in various countries
Historical examples of megaengineering projects
- Suez Canal
- Panama Canal
- Trans Siberian Railroad
- Union Pacific Railroad
- Snowy Mountain Scheme
- TVA
Organizers
Professors Stanley D. Brunn & Andrew Wood
Department of Geography, University of Kentucky
Contacts
Emails: Brunn@uky.edu & Andrew.Wood@uky.edu
Phones: (859) 257-2932 or 2931 & 7-6947 (Brunn) or 7-1744 (Wood)
Sponsors
| University of Kentucky |
Office of the Provost
Vice President for Research
Graduate School
Center for Applied Energy Research
The Appalachian Center
Department of Geography
Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business and Economics, Engineering, & Public Health |
American Geographical Society
Association of American Geographers |
Countries of Participants
- Australia
- Canada
- China
- Finland
- India
- Italy
- Nigeria
- Russia
- Slovenia
- United States
Publication Planned
A volume will be published soon after the conference that contains the papers presented and others by scholars who are unable to attend.
Monday Evening Presentation
A video on Kentucky Mountain Top Removal produced by Citizen Activist and Photojournalist Michael O’Connell. A question and answer session will follow.
Additional Information
Program | Abstracts | Poster
List of Program Participants
Derek Alderman, Daniel Brass, Ray Bromley, Robert Brown, Stanley D. Brunn, Milan Bufon, Yong Chen, Kenneth Corey, Robert Dahlstrom, Alexander Diener, Mohammad Eskandari, Michael Ewers, William Galloway, Anton Gosar, Peter Hugill, Graeme Hugo, William Holden, Richard Jackson, Daniel Jacobson, Aharon Kellerman, Korine Kolivras, Joe Labianca, Kunta Lahiri-Dutt, Olli Lehtonen, Richard Levine, Edward Malecki, Ajay Mehra, Philip Micklin, Michael O’Connell, Samuel Otterstrom, Alina Newkirk, Pernilla Ouis, Maria Paradiso, Ganesam Raghuram, Martin Reuss, Christopher Rice, Joseph Scarpaci, Izhak Schnell, Joni Seager, Ben Smith, Philip Steinberg, Yan Tan, Adamu Tanko, Stanley Trimble, Markku Tyykylianen, Barney Warf, Mark Wilson, Andrew Wood, Ernie Yanarella, Jian Zao, George Zellante. |
