Lyon's Twin Sister City in Dubai

"Certainly, Lyon - with its two rivers, its Gallo-Roman ruins, its 300 Renaissance merchant houses and its gastronomic reputation - is special, even in a country like France."

"Two weeks ago, Ghandi, who is the head of Emivest, an investment and development group, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Lyon mayor and several locally based entities to embark on a grand architectural adventure for Dubai, one of the seven small states that make up the United Arab Emirates."

"The project, temporarily called Lyon-Dubai City, will include a university; subsidiaries of Lyon's main museums; housing, hotel and office space; cafés, restaurants, pedestrian streets, town squares, courtyards, a film center, maybe even a church, all inspired by France's third-largest city. As of now, little Lyon will cover between 750 acres, or about 300 hectares, and 1,000 acres."