ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the compressed historical-spatial dialectic that has imprinted Dubai within the collective global consciousness. It explores Dubai's shopping malls relevance to the making of modern Dubai and the nature of the urban space that results. Dubai has even grafted one of its most prominent civic events, the Dubai Shopping Festival, which takes place during February each year in its shopping malls, attracting 3 million visitors to the city. Located at the commencement of Sheikh Zayed Road, the Bur Juman Centre unlike many structures that define the Emirate's brand image displays its own internal history. As in the Bur Juman Centre, the Dubai Mall eschews Gruen's traditional dumbbell plan' in favour of a triangular layout with gently curving malls. Again, the triangular plan stimulates a sense perpetual movement, this time with three anchors' at the points, each signified by an event here it is two large shops and, bafflingly, a public art installation.
