ABSTRACT
Dubai - city of grandeur, monumental architecture and spectacle - sprang forth from a lifeless desert. Dubai is the result o f the work o f monarchs and the elite, perfectly embodying the city as planned by policy makers, investors and urban developers. This spectacular, over-the-top urban development has brought Dubai international fame. As if a new ‘American dream’, the Persian Gulf emirate presents itself as a land o f opportunity where anything is pos sible. Dubai is known and studied for its skyscrapers, artificial islands and malls. This side o f Dubai, which often serves to showcase the city, is defined by Yasser Elsheshtawy in this work by the concept o f ‘big space’. Big space refers to Dubai’s position in the world - the spectacle that the city offers to the world and the steel and glass exuberance that makes its existence in the middle o f the desert surreal, almost magical.
