When the public relations man for an emerging, multibillion-dollar real estate development concedes there are probably 10 schemes just as big within an hour’s drive, then you know you must be in Dubai. When complete, Dubai Festival City will have 70,000 residents in 20,000 homes and a daily population of over twice that number. At its site, by Dubai airport, nearly $4 billion of construction is now in hand, representing just a third of the total plan.
Over a large tract of desert, stretching south from the city, Dubai is building an entire tourism and leisure industry for a population many times bigger than that of the emirate’s 1.3 million people.