Dubai

Dubai is rapidly rising as an international hub. The pace of development there is insanely fast, and seems poised to keep expanding as quickly as the raw materials and labor can arrive. Metropolis magazine had a feature on Dubai in November of last year. In the article, they laid out some interesting points regarding Dubai's growth and expansion- especially as it relates to design.
One of the things I found most interesting and laudable about Dubai is the commitment to sustainable and green technologies. This is evidenced in the architecture of the city- David Fisher has designed a tower where each floor will rotate. This seems like ostentatious excess to the extreme, however the rotations will all be powered by wind turbines. Dubai is in a great geographical position to make the most of wind and solar power. The Burj al-Taqa will be the first skyscraper to produce 100% of it's energy. Most will produced by roof mounted wind-turbines, and augmented by solar panels. Much of the development in Dubai is centered around energy efficiency. Architects are working with heat reducing materials, solar screens and shields, glass shades, and vacuum glazing to reduce the need for cooling the building in the hot weather.
In addition the tremendous wealth in Dubai is giving designers a chance to realize their ideas in entirety. Designers are basically being given free rein for a lot of the interiors to incorporate new materials and technologies. When money is no object, you can produce some amazing works. The one stumbling point seems to be the insistence on the latest newest thing rather than on objects/designs that have a relation to the setting and the culture. The article in Metropolis sums it up as "the conflict between a global design language and the local vernacular..... people want the newest and become quite taken by.... whatever is on the other side."
So where is Dubai headed and how did they get here? According to Metropolis, Dubai wants to be a major economic hub for the world. To that end, Dubai is focused on sustainability and diversification. As a minor player in oil, Dubai had to grow in other ways. This has led to agressive economic policies which have resulted in one of the fastest grwoing economies on the planet. One aspect that I find very interesting about Dubai, is the reliance on foreign deisgners and managment for its companies and developents. There isn't a lot of home-grown talent in Dubai, so most mid-upper level work is done by foreign workers. And the scal of the money being spent in Dubai means that we are talking outsourcing on a scale that Americans can live quite well on. With all of the uproar over jobs here going to countries that have lower cost of living, why aren't we then marketing ourselves for positions in places like Dubai?
It seems that much of the press previously on Dubai has been focused on the excess and showy qualities that make you think of Vegas on strong steroids. However Dubai seems much more serious underneath that facade.