I'd never buy plane tickets to Dubai! As an urban planning student, I cringe every time I think of that city. It embodies everything that can go wrong in urban development 😒🏙️
Sum of it is, they built a city in the middle of nowhere with the only purpose of attracting those seeking luxury. Incorporating many of the worst urban planning practices in the process, such as vast American style suburbs and huge highways dividing the city. This makes cars the only viable way to get around as there is no public transport to speak of. Then there are the flashy and completely pointless skyscrapers, including the Burj Khalifa which doesn't even have a functioning sewer system. Every day tens of trucks arrive to suck everything out. They have endless golf courses which require an absolutely eyewatering amount of irrigation to stay alive. To top it all off you have the palm islands, built by destroying acres of coral reefs, the one biologically diverse area which was worth saving. Instead of building on the endless amounts of desert space, they're left with an island chain which is sinking for everyday that goes and is very vulnerable to climate change. Soon it won't just be the famous hotel on there which will be called Atlantis.
They had all the money and space to spare to make a truly unique city, one which could've been a celebration of Middle-Eastern culture which would still attract tourists but for a different and more meaningful reason. Instead they chose to cater to the worst in society. Cherry on top, it was built on sl@ve labor, desperate people from places like India and Bangladesh are tricked to come and work in construction. Passports are taken and wages withheld for months. Not earning nearly enough to send money to their families, often relying on borrowing money to even survive, making a return home even more impossible.
(Not my picture. But look at that suburban dystopia 😨)
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