Two-Minute Tour: Dubai, U.A.E.

The Numbers
Home to the towering 2716-foot-tall skyscraper Burj Khalifa, the mammoth Mall of the Emirates (with more than 630 retail outlets and an indoor ski slope) and the palm tree-shaped artificial archipelago Jumeirah Palm, Dubai is a city with a zeal for grandeur. It’s located on the Persian Gulf Coast and is one of seven emirates that comprise the U.A.E. According to the Dubai Statistics Center, more than 2.4 million people reside in the modern city.

The Pulse
According to Doug Shaw, Dubai-based director and regional practice group leader for Middle East retail, CallisonRTKL (Baltimore), Expo 2020 Dubai, an iteration of the World Expo event set for 2020, is driving much of the area’s rapid development. “[It’s] expected to draw over 25 million visits to the region, 70 percent of [which] will be from outside the U.A.E.,” he notes. One project that’s expected to be completed by 2020 is the 48 million-square-foot, temperature-controlled Mall of The World, a domed structure that will house retail and residential space, thousands of hotels, an indoor theme park and its own transit system.

The Hotspots
Look for a new direction for some of Dubai’s newer retail ventures: Boxpark, for example, is an outdoor urban shopping development constructed from 220 shipping containers.

Shaw notes that former industrial area Alserkal Avenue has become “a hub for arts” with contemporary art galleries, design studios, a museum and a performing arts space. And the Dubai Design District – known as D3 – has sprouted to life over the last few years, combining retail and dining with space for emerging artists, designers and creative thinkers to gather and showcase their work.

Obstacles/Opportunities
Dubai’s fixation on superlatives like biggest, best and grandest seems to be a solid strategy. “One of the biggest retail challenges in Dubai is staying innovative and interesting to sophisticated customers who are used to seeing the latest developments in their travels around the world,” Shaw says.
 

Take a trip around the globe with more of VMSD's Two-Minute Tour city profiles here.