ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at a site that captures these qualities in the city of Abu Dhabi capital of the United Arab Emirates, representing the very essence of what one may describe as a ‘hegemonic city’. The notion of having a terrain vague type of space in Abu Dhabi could be questionable. The Abu Dhabi Food and Control Authority (ADFCA) set its sights on small grocery stores operated by South Asians in order to unify their appearance. Abu Dhabi is comprised of a main island containing its central business district. In the naming of its districts, neighbourhoods and streets, Abu Dhabi has a very peculiar system that has undergone numerous iterations. A clear difference however was in ‘The Square with the Tree’, a setting that offered a truly remarkable divergence from the Dubai case. Observing life in this square over the course of a typical day was revealing in a number of ways.
