Can you see what it is yet?

It seems we will be getting a new landmark structure in London, the ArcelorMittal Orbit. According to the BBC this will be a "monument to mark the London 2012 Olympic Games", but what is it?

Much as I like artistic work there are times I have to wonder at the expense. The proposed cost, £19 million, is trivial these days but would easily pay the (government policy induced) debts of a couple of hospitals, or universities, or many, many small schools.

So other than go "Ooh, Ahh" what will people do there? Will they think about the historical London and why the city came to be? How this teeming metropolis became one of the nerve centres of the world? Why it is, from the north, we still go 'up' to London? Or will it be "Ooh, I used to live over there", or "Ahh, that's where our hotel is"? I suspect too much of the latter.

"It will enhance tourism" many may say, but how many hot-dog stalls can it sustain? I notice the plaza is depicted as full of people, but has no indication of markets or craft fairs or side-shows; something that would put money in the local pocket and be better than Fagin and his gang. Otherwise any turnstile revenue will evaporate into the corporate aether and be of scant benefit to anyone but a very small minority.

I don't see any use to this structure. More than that I feel if we don’t stop wasting what people are good at, and I am thinking engineers and architects here, then too much pointless fancy like this will impoverish our world, rather than enrich it. Grow into these trousers... >>