From the photos I’ve seen, Dubai looks like a very fascinating place. I have never been there myself but based on photos and videos I have watched it looks like a place unlike anywhere I’ve ever been. I grew up in Toronto, Canada and am now living in New York City. These two cities are quite similar to each other, both have different vibes but the architecture is alike. The architecture in Dubai along with the social structure is much different from the places I have lived and it is intriguing to me. I want to go visit the city and see what is, according to Stephen Zacks, going to replace New York as the world’s economic and cultural capital. While trying to understand Dubai’s structure a bit better, I found it comforting that Zacks mentioned in “Beyond the Spectacle” that understanding fully what is happening there can be a difficult task. He stated that, “things happen at such a speed, in such a fragmented way, and with so little government oversight that to find one person with a complete grasp of what’s going on is a very, very difficult task.”¹ Architecture in Dubai like the Burj Khalifa, being the tallest building in the world or the Burj Al Arab, situated on it’s own man-made island are quite spectacular to see. Another aspect of the city that amazes me is the man-made palm islands off the coast of The United Arab Emirates. There is nothing like this in North America and although the weather is a factor, I feel Dubai is just always at least one step ahead of the rest of the world lately. However, they aren’t slowing down, there is over $310 billion in total construction planned in the coming years around Dubai.²
- Mike Davis, “Fear and Money in Dubai”, New Left Review 41, Sept / Oct 2006 Stephen Zacks, “Beyond the Spectacle”, Metropolis, November 2007
- Zacks, “Beyond the Spectacle.”
