Dubai: An Urbanism Shaped for Global Tourism

Abstract

The urban transformation experience of Dubai presents an interesting model of dealing with globalization and benefiting from its flows of people, capital, and transformation. Although that city does not have rich urban heritage or natural attractions compared to other cities in the region, it managed to construct an urban structure that captured a relatively significant portion of global tourism to its local context. In this research paper the author argue that Dubai has achieved this quest by constructing a series of what author call "places of people flows." This research mean by places of people flows, projects that have the capacity of triggering people flows to the city. This research mean categorizes these places into: 1) Places of urban image, or spectacular projects that contributes to the quality of the urban image of the city. 2) Places of linkage that connects the city to the global domain. 3) Places of agglomeration that host flows of people flows coming to the city. This research mean analyzed by the role of these places of people flows in transforming Dubai from a peripheral city to one of the most attractive tourism destination in the Middle East.