Dubai: An Overview

Dubai Gate at the heart of the city's new financial district.

It has become rather common for Dubai to feature prominently in overseas editorials. It is an easy topic of fascination for those who have heard of this or that grand project under construction. The UK's Timesonline offers its contribution to international media attempts to explain the curiosity that Dubai has become.

Dubai’s building frenzy lays foundation for global power presents a balanced overview, including observations of the incredible:

Dubai is forecast to enjoy the fastest population and economic growth in the world over the next 10 years. “This is the most optimistic, creative place on the planet,” said Donal Kilalea, 49, an Irish businessman who runs a fast-expanding sports-marketing company. “It’s not like living in a modern city state. It’s like stepping into an imagined future.”

~and pragmatic explanation:

As Werner Burger, a 37-year-old South African who runs a local hotel and property firm, said: “Dubai has been able to achieve so much so fast because it is not a state, it is a corporation, Dubai Inc, which practises pure capitalism. People living here are employees, not citizens — whether they are a chief executive or a brickie.

Dubai feels like it is changing the world.

For those living in Dubai or the frequent visitor, words like these ring true. However, small in size and distant from any other of the world's powerhouses--including large countries like the United States or China or renown cities like New York, London or Tokyo--Dubai feels like it is perhaps the most happening place on the globe.

It has its detractors, including the thousands of residents who bemoan ever worsening traffic conditions and the many, not limited to laborers, who are forced to live in shared accommodations with up to a dozen or more strangers. But even those who complain are easily struck with a sense of wonder when they see all that is coming up around them.

Of final note, the Times article offers a succinct explanation for how Dubai does what it does,

the Dubai government insists that the rapid-fire decision-making that comes with autocratic rule is the only way it can achieve its aim of building a nation from scratch in a generation.

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