Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 – 08:05 CEST

Topics: Growth
Schedule: Week 4 (July 8 - July 15)
Art Project: Topology of Dubai
School Project: BG/BRG Ramsauerstraße Linz
Partner School: International School of Tehran (Tehran, Iran)

Dubai has experienced phenomenal growth in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Forty years ago, the city had a population of nearly 60,000 people. Today, the population is over 1.2 million people — nearly a twenty-fold increase. Over the last decade, building and construction have been some of the primary motors of economic activity in Dubai to house and provide workplaces for all of these new people. In 2005, construction and real estate provided for over 22 percent of the city’s economy. It is also home to an ambitious project to recreate part of Lyon, France in Dubai, which is due to be complete in 2010.

Posted in Dubai, Places

Dubai Metro to open next week

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 – 09:09 CEST

After the emirate expected tons of tourists to flock to its outrageously insane buildings and shopping districts, Dubai undertook construction of an automated metro line. The first leg will open next week, on September 9, 2009.

However, when it opens, it…

Construction on Dubailand stalls due to economic crisis

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 – 11:21 CEST

While Dubai has been associated with astonishing growth over the last decade, the economic crisis has hit the city-state hard.

In the last few months alone, most of its prisoners have been incarcerated for bounced checks, its lost the QE2, and…

Burj Dubai to open December 2, 2009

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 – 23:00 CEST

The Burj Dubai, soon to be the world’s tallest tower at 818 m, is set to open on December 2, 2009, according to Arabian Buiness.

The magazine’s source was a “senior architect working on the project, who said: “This will be…

Many of Dubai’s prisoners incarcerated for bounced checks

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Monday, July 27th, 2009 – 23:35 CEST

While Dubai has been known for a massive boom in recent years, since the global economic crisis, Icarus may just have flown too high on borrowed wings.

In addition to not getting the QE2, a delay on the Burj Dubai, and…

QE2 to move from Dubai to Cape Town?

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 – 17:00 CEST

Yet another one of Dubai’s major developers, Nakheel, is feeling the crunch.

The owner of the famed Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise liner paid nearly 60 million € in 2007 for the iconic vessel and had been hoping to turn it…

Emaar Properties says Burj Dubai to open later this year

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Monday, July 13th, 2009 – 20:35 CEST

In what is surely the greatest example of Dubai’s ostentatiousness, the Burj Dubai’s (Dubai Tower) developers say that it will be open for business later this year. The tower, at 818 meters high, already is the world’s tallest human-made structure.

This building,…

Dubai to reduce taxes to bring back investment

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Friday, May 29th, 2009 – 16:16 CEST

For the last few years, Dubai has undergone astounding growth. The city-state boasts that it holds the world’s only “seven-star” hotel. However as part of the global economic crisis, Dubai has had to make some tough choices about what to do…

Dubai’s Burj Al Arab Hotel Not Discounting Rooms

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Monday, May 18th, 2009 – 10:25 CEST

Despite all the economic doom and gloom everywhere, Dubai’s “seven-star” hotel, the Burj Al Arab, will not be discounting its room prices, said the CEO of the parent company, Jumeirah, Gerald Lawless.

In an interview with the Agence France Presse Saturday, Lawless…