I have to admit that this reminds me of those big farmaceutical companies that want to take over the whole process of food growing.
Ikea (who doesn`t know Ikea?) decided to enter the world of designing/building and operating entire urban neighbourhoods. Their plan is to take neglected part of the city and build Ikealand, neighbourhood for the families... The houses will be fully owned by Ikea and rented to famillies. The company wants you to be in a neat, clean, pleasant environment. And it very much wants you to have fun. Those things that normally just happen in life will be carefully managed from above. The company will keep control in terms of activities that will be held on site. They have already made a test projest in East London. Some of the ideas are of course fascinating (trash channels under the street where properly separated garbage will be collected) but I hate the idea that I can buy washing mashine at the Petrol and I can get a house when I buy a couch.
But I guess they heard the naggers like me. Ikea keeps telling that it is not an Ikea. There will be no Poang armchair in the living room and Billy bookshelves will not be covering the walls. Houses will not be assembled with Allen keys and there will not be meatballs and salmon & dill sandwiches in the restaurants. The company insists there will not be an Ikae shop in the neighbourhood. Personally, I am not satisfied with Ikea products, I like the textile and some accesories. But my kitchen counter is falling apart and bathroom cabinets also. That is the reason I am not a fan of Ikealand idea.
I thing it`s hypocrisy to build cheap furniture which you will have to replace soon and talk about ecology and environment protection. Just to remind you Ikea is renting gigantic size Russian
forests (I hope not also in Ukraine since Cernobil pollution is building up in wood). That is definitely not sustainable forrestry. But it is a sustainable Ikea visiting ;)
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Ikea (le kdo je ne pozna) se je odločila vstopiti v svet dizajniranja/gradnje in vodenja celotnih urbanih sosesk. Njihov načrt je vzeti zapostavljen kos mesta in iz njega narediti Ikealand, družinsko sosesko... Soseska bo v lasti Ikee, ki bo nepremičnine oddajala v najem.
Podjetje želi urejeno, čisto, prijetno okolje. Želi tudi, da se ljudje zabavajo. To, kar se običajno v življenju zgodi samo od sebe bo v Ikealandu regulirano od zgoraj. Nadzor nad početjem v soseski bo precej reguliran.
Naredili so že poskusni projekt v vzhodnem Londonu. Nekaj idej je seveda precej dobrih (kanali za smeti, ki srkajo ločeno zbrane odpadke pod cestnim nivojem, naprimer) ampak meni gre malo na živce, da lahko na Petrolu kupiš pralni stroj in zraven dvoseda dobiš še sosesko.
Ampak verjetno so slišali tudi take nergače, kot sem jaz, saj pri Ikei zatrjujejo, da ne gre za Ikeo, V dnevni sobi ne bo čakal Poang naslonjač in knjižne police Billy ne bodo pokrivale vseh sten. Hiš se ne bo dalo sestavljati z izvijačem in v restavracijah ne bodo stregli mesnih kroglic ter lososovih sendvičev s koprom. Podjetje tudi vztraja, da nikjer v soseski ne bo Ikea trgovine.
Jaz osebno sem z Ikeinim pohištvom v povprečju zelo nezadovoljna, res všeč mi je samo tekstil in nekateri dodatki. Kuhinjski pult pa razpada, prav tako so zelo načete omarice v kopalnici ter nočna omarica, tako mi ideja Ikea hiške res ni všeč.
Hipokrizija se mi zdi izdelovati pohištvo za tako ceno, ki hitro razpade ter hkrati govoriti o ekologiji in varovanju okolja. Da o tem, da je Ikea zakupila ogromne, gigantske površine Ruskih
gozdov (upam, da ne tudi Ukrajinskih, saj se Černobilsko onesnaženje nabira v lesu) sploh ne govorim. Tu vsekakor ne gre več za trajnostno rabo gozda.
Gre pa za zelo trajnostne obiske Ikee seveda ;)
