“Dubai is not just a city living beyond its financial means; it is living beyond its ecological means. You stand on a manicured Dubai lawn and watch the sprinklers spray water all around you. You see tourists flocking to swim with dolphins. You wander into a mountain-sized freezer where they have built a ski slope with real snow. And a voice at the back of your head squeaks: this is the desert. This is the most water-stressed place on the planet. How can this be happening? How is it possible?”
A great article on Dubai in the Independent today, dealing with slavery, debt, and a paradise half-built.
Dubai is the quintessence of the plastic world…a place where traditional values have gone out of the window as soon as money came in. Hopefully, the world will pause, look around at places like Dubai and learn what it should not be done in the future not to end up like that. I really believe Dubai will be not remembered in 30 years time and nowhere near the Greatest City in the World, which is what local decision makers think it will become.