'Connecting minds, creating the future", the slogan of World Expo 2020, is everywhere in Dubai. The ongoing event, which opened a year late in October 2021, is the first of its kind since the beginning of the pandemic. Few other places in the world are as future-oriented as Dubai. But what kind of future does Dubai want? The city has established itself as a model for the emerging urban centres of Asia and the Middle East, so its choices today could have far-reaching consequences in the future.
Unlike many of its neighbours, including in the United Arab Emirates, Dubai's wealth is not built on oil. In fact, only 1% of the city's GDP comes from hydrocarbons. Not long after oil was first discovered in the emirate in the 1960s, its ruler, Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, decided that the emirate's economy should not rely on it exclusively. Instead, he pushed Dubai to become a centre for global business, based on its favourable geographical position and its pro-market orientation. The city's planners lived by the credo: "If you build it, they will come."
