Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed's dreams of turning Dubai into an internationally renowned city is getting a boost from 'Dubailand' -- a themepark almost twice as large as Disneyworld.
"Fast running out of oil, which now accounts for just 6% of its gross domestic product, Sheikh Mohammed is racing to transform Dubai into a huge business-cum-leisure park on a breathtaking scale... The plan also involves the creation of a city for 10m people, compared with the current population of 1.5m. Its free enterprise zone is booming, as is its stock exchange (up 1,200% in two and a half years with stocks valued at $253bn). The amount of money raised from initial public offerings will have hit $15bn in the past 12 months. Hundreds of luxury hotels are being built and many hundreds of thousands of flats and luxury homes aimed at housing the rich, the retired and the tourists as well as the immigrant workers tasked with making his dream reality."
FULL STORY: Building castles in the sand
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
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Colorado’s Largest Data Center Could Rise Next to Homes — Without a Public Hearing
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FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
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Journal of the American Planning Association