Dubai’s comeback strategies: architecture and entrepreneurs | SmartPlanet

Being home to the world’s tallest building (the Burj Khalifa) isn’t enough for Dubai. The emirate is pushing its extreme architecture in more over-the-top directions now that its economy has bounced back after it nearly collapsed in 2009.

As The Economist reports, Dubai’s latest daring design is its plan for essentially a mini-metropolis within a metropolis: Mohammed bin Rashid City. Announced in November, it will include 100-plus hotels, the “Mall of the World” (yes, it will be the biggest on the planet), a public park that takes up more space than London’s Hyde Park and the biggest entertainment complex in the Middle East.

Design and sparkly architecture are more than just eye-catching baubles in Dubai, though. As The Economist points out, they are part of the emirate’s plan to diversify its economy beyond oil. Trade and tourism are doing well (hotel occupancy rates are up to 80%); so is real estate (542 apartments in a 63-story Dubai skyscraper sold out in a single day in September 2012).
Dubai’s comeback strategies: architecture and entrepreneurs | SmartPlanet