ABSTRACT
In recent decades, the Dubai real estate market has grown rapidly; the number of developments in the various project stages at any given moment has been staggering. The chapter addresses the interconnections between built structure and image on the levels of technology, content and meaning. It examines these interconnections in light of Dubai's peculiar economic situation and compares it with the local architectural praxis. The Palm Jumeirah development is a gigantic land reclamation project off Dubai's shore. One can regard Dubai as an experiment in cosmopolitanism; describe it, with much goodwill, as a vision; or criticize it in many regards. The architecture of Dubai, its models and likenesses, and in particular the images of its unbuilt architecture illustrate how loose the association between image and site has become in an era defined by the radical focus on commercial realization. The exchangeability of images engenders the exchangeability of sites.
