ABSTRACT
Introduction On November 27, 2013, the Bureau of International Expositions held a meeting in Paris to determine the location of its quinquennial universal World Fair/Expo in 2020, ultimately awarding the honor to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The selection represents the culmination of years of urban growth and economic development, which has positioned the city as an emerging global hub (Pacione 2005). The theme that Dubai has chosen for the Expo is “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future,” which is underpinned by three drivers of global development: sustainability, mobility, and opportunity. Mobility and opportunity, in particular, seem very fitting, as the city has become a magnet for international labor migration. Urban development and skilled international migration have gone hand-in-hand in Dubai’s evolution from its origins as a trade entrepôt over a century ago, through the oil boom of the 1970s and subsequent building frenzy in the 21st century (Buckley and Hanieh 2014). As such, this chapter studies the determinants of skilled international labor migration to the rapidly globalizing city of Dubai. More specifically, it describes how local specificities characterizing particular cities condition skilled international migration and global talent mobility. This is accomplished through studying how firms in Dubai formulate their hiring and recruitment strategies in response to the city’s urbanization. In particular, Dubai’s manifestation of the “global city” includes unique business environment characteristics and labor market dynamics that distinguish it from other global cities.
