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Dubai: A City of Contradictions

2023; Springer International Publishing; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-3-031-29463-1_20

2662-2475

Nicholas Baird, Joseph Blevins, Tim Scheerschmidt, Nicola Vecchi, Laurenz Weiße,

Urban and Rural Development Challenges

Dubai is a city of contradictions. On the one hand, it has been home to spectacular economic and population growth for the better part of fifty years. On the other hand, that growth has come despite considerable human rights abuses. Paradoxically, it has been described as a “centrally planned free market economy.” The Jebel Ali Free Zone and the artificially built Palm Islands serve as examples of how to combine guided and unguided development. Despite these successes, the choice to build in Dubai at all is an odd one; 31% of Dubai’s population is projected to be underwater by the year 2100. Nevertheless, Dubai’s unique configuration of factors of production, human capital, public policy, and organization contribute to the unique local economic landscape of “The Gateway to the Middle East.”