A Trip to Dubai
Dubai is one of the seven city-states that comprise the United Arab Emirates. It is located on the northern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, fronting the Persian Gulf.
My January 2006 trip to Dubai was unexpected in that I never really imagined myself ever traveling to the Middle East until I got a call from one of my company's regional administrators about a week before Christmas, asking me if I'd travel to Dubai in January to assist with some bus transit planning efforts. I agreed and, in early January, off I went to the sands of Arabia.
Although, the sand there is quickly being replaced with skyscrapers, highways, shopping malls and golf courses. As a recent article in The Guardian reports, Dubai is the fastest-growing city in the world. The amount of development currently underway there is, in fact, nothing short of mind-boggling. Literally hundreds of high-rise buildings are currently under construction, including the Burj Dubai, which will be the tallest building in the world once it is completed. It is said that sixteen percent of the world's supply of high-rise construction cranes is currently located in Dubai. Such a claim is hard to verify, but the Dubai skyline is nevertheless dotted with cranes. Office buildings as well as residential towers are being built at a feverish pace, with much of the construction occurring in specific developments with names like "Healthcare City," "Knowledge Village" or "Festival City." Then there's the stuff being built right off the coast: the three man-made palm-shaped islands currently under construction, or the artificial archipelago being made in the form of the world. It all really has to be seen first-hand in order to be believed.
Why the frenetic construction boom? Dubai's prime location in the oil-wealthy Middle East, with America and Europe to the west and India, China and the Pacific Rim to the east, as well as its lack of corporate taxes, is expected to attract scores of businesses over the coming
My January 2006 trip to Dubai was unexpected in that I never really imagined myself ever traveling to the Middle East until I got a call from one of my company's regional administrators about a week before Christmas, asking me if I'd travel to Dubai in January to assist with some bus transit planning efforts. I agreed and, in early January, off I went to the sands of Arabia.
Although, the sand there is quickly being replaced with skyscrapers, highways, shopping malls and golf courses. As a recent article in The Guardian reports, Dubai is the fastest-growing city in the world. The amount of development currently underway there is, in fact, nothing short of mind-boggling. Literally hundreds of high-rise buildings are currently under construction, including the Burj Dubai, which will be the tallest building in the world once it is completed. It is said that sixteen percent of the world's supply of high-rise construction cranes is currently located in Dubai. Such a claim is hard to verify, but the Dubai skyline is nevertheless dotted with cranes. Office buildings as well as residential towers are being built at a feverish pace, with much of the construction occurring in specific developments with names like "Healthcare City," "Knowledge Village" or "Festival City." Then there's the stuff being built right off the coast: the three man-made palm-shaped islands currently under construction, or the artificial archipelago being made in the form of the world. It all really has to be seen first-hand in order to be believed.
Why the frenetic construction boom? Dubai's prime location in the oil-wealthy Middle East, with America and Europe to the west and India, China and the Pacific Rim to the east, as well as its lack of corporate taxes, is expected to attract scores of businesses over the coming