City as Product is part 4 of biographical series on Nathaniel Brown, continued from part 3 "Billion Dollar Daydreams" and followed by part 5 "Port in a Storm". It appears as an eBook in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, and can be found in GARM Hangar 1, in the control room accessible by climbing up the stairs.
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Part 4 of Devine James' biographical series on Nathaniel Brown
Already a major contractor in Oman's ambitious project, Santeau was in a powerful position to financially adopt Rabi'ah after the catastrophic crash of the oil markets. With full ownership by 2019, the following year Brown revealed his own vision of Rabi'ah: the world's first, completely self-sufficient, "corporate city", fully 3D-printed from sustainable material and ready in just two years.
The ambition was exhilarating but hard to swallow. Rabi'ah began construction in 2026 but was plagued by technical problems. When the Aug Incident hit, development ground to an expensive halt.
Brown was dismayed. Rabi'ah was to be his proof of concept for what he called "city as product". If successful, Santeau's leader was poised to offer the world the potential for civilization printed to order and run as a service by the corporation itself. Now, with his investors off the bandwagon and a dearth of workers willing to deal with a harsh working environment and harsher schedule, Santeau's leader turned to a brilliant but controversial solution: Aug labor.