Ciudad superlativa, Dubai.

Resumen

With ambitions to become a hub of global commerce, a top tourist destination and a shopping mecca -a New York/Las Vegas/ Miami rolled into one- Dubai has been spending billions of dollars building an astonishing modern city nearly from scratch in a mere fifteen years. Somes $100 billion worth of real estate under construction or in the pipeline continues the boom to date. Combining the involvement of local businesses and innovative strategies of urban marketing with headline catching projects, Dubai has set out to transform its urban landscape and its image. Ambitious mixed-use urban developments featuring luxury residences, hotels and office blocks, huge shopping malls and imaginative entertainment complexes are rapidly changing the face of the emirate and are putting the Dubai property market on the world stage. The starting point for much of this expansion was the emirates decision to allow non-nationa ls to purchase freehold property. In Dubai, shopping malls, luxury hotels, residential towers and artificial islands, one shaped like a Palm and another like a map of the world are being built. Around five million tourists visit Dubai per year and the city is planning for fifteen million by 2020. Is Dubai really such a success story, or wiU time tell a different tale?