Among its many other contributions to urban futurism, Dubai is soon to be the home of the world's largest theme park, Dubailand, which when completed will be larger than all of Orlando, Florida.
"Widely touted as the Middle East's very own Orlando, Dubailand, a cluster of mega-billion-dollar projects, is gradually emerging across the desert sands of the booming Gulf emirate. Faced with a dwindling wealth of oil, Dubai has taken on a new challenge of larger-than-life projects in line with its ambition to become the region's main business and leisure hub.
Already primed as a holiday destination, it is fast executing plans to build a host of new hotels, golf courses, malls and leisure facilities in order to more than double the number of tourists to 15 million by 2015.
Initially planned to cover an area of 2 billion square feet (185 square kilometers), Dubailand, billed as the "world's most ambitious tourism, leisure and entertainment project," is expected to be a sprawling 3 billion square feet.
This would make it larger than the entire city of Orlando, Florida - home to Walt Disney World, Universal Resort, Sea World and a variety of other attractions and hotels."
FULL STORY: $64 billion Dubailand projects on fast track to rival top world tourism destinations

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

California Set to Increase Electric Truck Chargers by 25%
The California Transportation Commission approved funding for an additional 500 charging ports for electric trucks along some of the state’s busiest freight corridors.

21 Climate Resilience Projects Cancelled by the EPA
The federal government has pulled funding for at least 21 projects related to farming, food systems, and environmental justice to comply with one of Trump’s early executive orders.

Trump Executive Order on Homelessness Calls for Forced Institutionalization
The order seeks to remove legal precedents and consent decrees that prevent cities from moving unhoused people from the street to treatment centers.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Yukon Government
Caltrans
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Norman, Oklahoma
City of Portland
City of Laramie