Dubai Is Building The World's First Temperature-Controlled
City
By Beckett Mufson -- Jul 8 2014
If anywhere in the world could use a bit of A/C, it's
definitely the desert-bound city of Dubai. Today it reached
a high of 108F--but Monday will top that by over ten
degrees, according to The Weather Channel. We're sweating
just thinking about it.
According to an announcement from Sheik Mohammad Bin Rashad,
the city's constitutional monarch, Dubai has a plan to let
incoming tourists beat the heat for good: constructing the
largest temperature-controlled city on the planet. Boldly
entitled, The Mall of the World, the development plan will
include over 20,000 hotel rooms, an indoor theme park, a
hospital, theater district, and the largest shopping center
in the world. A giant retractable glass dome will cover the
Mall's 48 million sqare foot chunk of Dubai, protecting
visitors from the aforementioned 118 summer heat. This is
almost like the Internet of Things applied to a sprawling
metropolitan hub.
The Mall's design takes inspiration from all over the world.
One shop-lined street dubbed "The Celebration Walk" is
similar to La Rambla in Barcelona, while another is based on
the Oxford Street shops in London. It's theater district
looks eerily similar to Broadway in NYC.
These attractions are designed to host 180 million visitors
per year--an ambitious plan. The Sheik is confident,
however, in his city's ability to sell, commenting, "The
growth in family and retail tourism underpins the need to
enhance Dubai's tourism infrastructure as soon as possible.
This project complements our plans to transform Dubai into a
cultural, tourist and economic hub for the two billion
people living in the region around us; and we are determined
to achieve our vision."
With Barcelona, London, and New York all bundled up into
one, temperature-controlled desert oasis, The Mall of the
World may have a lot to offer--but they'll have to be
careful not to make the same mistakes China has made with
its Manhattan replica. Time will tell if Dubai if this
tourism powerplay will be a success--but at least it'll have
A/C.
/:b