Mina, a tent oasis in the desert

One champion of the Expo 2010 Shanghai theme of "Better City, Better Life," is a small tent city in Saudi Arabia. Mina, a city located on the pilgrimage route from Mecca to nearby Mount Arafat, is not the traditional, outdated city one might expect.

The city is known for its sophisticated urban planning, facilities and infrastructure and is featured at the Urban Best Practices Area in the Expo Garden as a testament to one of the world's most innovative and life-improving urban development experiments in the history of World Expos.

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It is one of 55 city projects selected from 226 nominations from around the world for exhibition in the zone. For the first time in the event's history, cities were invited to show cutting-edge architecture and design concepts.

Judges picked the tent city because of the country's efforts to provide modern services to the almost 3 million pilgrims who spend four days in Mina during the Hajj pilgrimage every year. The country has spent billions of dollars in developing the desert valley of Mina into a modern city, which is home to around 40,000 durable, fireproof tents, with cooling systems, state-of-the-art communication facilities, and water and electricity systems.

Those in charge of the exhibit hope it has an effect, both regionally and globally, on communities in similar situations with their approach to urban development. Mina's most prominent features will be featured in six zones.

The first zone, highlighting the city and its people, introduces visitors to the largest tent city on earth. Innovatively planned and managed, the 4-square-kilometer area caters to the needs of almost 3 million people. A film is shown in the second zone that tells the story of the pilgrimage to Mecca.

The third zone focuses on the accommodation infrastructure provided by the Saudi government for pilgrims. The progress achieved in the tent industry to provide shelter that is both fire resistant and provides protection from the harsh desert environment has been beneficial for locals, and the cutting-edge fabric used for the tents has a 50-year lifespan.

"It is fire proof, configurable, wind resistant, nontoxic and protects from the sun," the Expo team said. With its traditional yet modern design and easy maintenance, the tents offer the perfect solution to desert living. The newly designed Jamarat Bridge, which can withstand more than 500,000 pilgrims per hour, is exhibited at the fourth zone. The new design was based on research about the dynamics of crowd pressure conducted through a cooperation of international and Saudi scientists.

The fifth zone exhibits solutions for health and environmental issues associated with the presence of more than 3 million pilgrims staying for a short time in a very limited space.

The sixth zone exhibits the future projects planned by the Saudi government for the annual visitors to Mecca. For example, an express train project that will transport 5 million pilgrims in less than eight hours across five parallel rails is currently under construction by the Saudi-Chinese consortium at a value exceeding $2 billion.