In Dubai, just about everything is meant to be the biggest and the best. And it's no joke: Here you'll find the world's tallest building, the largest man-made islands, the richest horse race, the biggest shopping festival, and soon the most extensive entertainment complex, the most massive mall, and the biggest hotel.
People who live here will tell you that Dubai is always changing -- that's an understatement. Dubai is growing so fast that it hardly seems recognizable from one year to the next. The city's only competition these days seems to be with itself. Who can keep up? Construction cranes everywhere work relentlessly to continue raising a modern metropolis out of the desert sand.
Once completed, the Palm Island Deira will be twice the size as the Palm Jumeirah. Mall of Arabia will eclipse Mall of the Emirates, which is already the biggest shopping center outside North America. The 25-story Ski Dubai will soon be dwarfed in size by the Snowdome being built in Dubailand, which itself will house the largest collection of theme parks on the planet. Asia-Asia will take over as the world's largest hotel.
Each project is bigger, bolder, and significantly more expensive. The skyline is being filled with more architecturally daring high-rises. The land is being carved with new canals and marinas. The sea is being gifted with new artificial islands. In other words, nothing is constant. If Dubai has a core identity, it lies in its dynamic entrepreneurial spirit and not in its layout. Tomorrow there will undoubtedly be even more audacious plans to turn fantasy into reality.
