View all newsletters
Sign up to our newsletters

Support 110 years of independent journalism.

7 July 2014updated 09 Jun 2021 11:10am

Dubai’s property developers are going nuts again

World's largest. World's largest. World's largest.

By Jonn Elledge

You remember what fun the Dubai property market used to be? The skyscrapers? The man-made islands? The way all of the above came with the inevitable tag “world’s largest”, as if anything less would somehow be a source of national shame? (The dubious treatment of the world’s largest overseas labour force, oddly, seemed to produce no such reaction.) Then the world went into recession, real estate prices crashed, and the UAE’s national debts spiked. For the last few years, it’s been all quiet on the Middle Eastern front.

But rejoice, for the good times are here again. This weekend Dubai Holding, a property empire whose majority owner is one Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, announced that it was developing the (wait for it) world’s largest mall. Some facts and figures:

  • The Mall of the World will occupy 8 million square feet, approximately one-and-a-half times the size of the current record holder, the, er, Dubai Mall.
  • It’s less of a shopping centre than a “temperature-controlled pedestrian city”, with a total floor space of 48 million square feet, and 7km of car-free streets.
  • The complex will also include apartments; up to 100 hotels; a “cultural district” (which its owners modestly compared to the West End and Broadway); a “celebration district” (which they compared to Barcelona’s Ramblas); and a “wellness district” (hospitals, beauty therapy and cosmetic surgery, together at last).
  • Lastly, the development will feature the (obviously) world’s largest family theme park. This will be enclosed beneath a giant glass dome, which’ll open to the skies in the cooler months. 

All in all it sounds a bit like a giant Arabic Center Parcs – except that, with the capacity to take 180 million visitors a year, it’s approximately 400 times bigger. Here’s a video:

This isn’t the only crazy new property development going down in the Dubai at the moment. Last month, the Los Angeles-based company Reef Worlds, which is best known for designing sets for movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, announced it was developing the (I know, I know) “world’s largest sustainable underwater tourism site in Dubai”. This’ll involve turning part of the artificial island complex known as The World – which was completed just as the crash happened, and thus remains almost entirely deserted – into an underwater tourism attraction modelled after the Lost City of Atlantis.

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU

Fans of shopping/snorkelling/cosmetic surgery shouldn’t get prematurely excited about all this: neither project has announced either cost estimates or a completion date. Over the weekend, what’s more, the International Monetary Fund warned that there were two big threats to the UAE’s economy: one was its over-dependence on oil; the other, the risk of another property bubble.

But it is at least an indication that  Dubai believes its best chance to diversify its economy is through tourism. You can expect to see the words “world’s largest” a lot more in the months to come.

This is a preview of our new sister publication, CityMetric. We’ll be launching its website soon – in the meantime, you can follow it on Twitter and Facebook.

Content from our partners
Development finance reform: the key to climate action
Individually rare, collectively common – how do we transform the lives of people with rare diseases?
Future proofing the NHS

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU