Wow! love the long response! first time someone commented that long and with full detail!
Part of what you say is true, i myself am not a fan of architecture thats blindly put together, without considering any regards for local culture, geography, climate. Alot of the new housing projects have pitched roofs! what??? in a country where it rains 4 days a year??

As for the immigrants treatment, i have persoanlly been there and seen how they work, and how they live, and let me tell you that they work in better conditions than in most countries. And there’s more expats here, more than the locals, the one’s probably causing the stats on UN to rise are probably the private companies, as the government takes great effort to make sure that their wellfare is covered. No country comes perfect mate ; )

Brother, I am merely using the example of past civilisations as an example to how it might have felt as a traveller going through such great cities. True the UAE’s greatness cannot be measured now, and it would’nt be fair to even put it at the same scale as Al-Andalus for example, but i am proud that it is a muslim nation. No matter how you put it, it is considered a muslim state. But then again ur philisophy of what defines a muslim nation might be different.

Thank you for your time to write down what your thoughts are on this mate ; )

Take care yea!!!

Wasalam.

Sincerely, Shamin

I'm sorry to say this but I completely disagree with you. And as this is a matter of taste, I believe disagreements are okay and not confrontational.

For one, the post modern architecture that engulfs Dubai, in my view, feels imposed on the land. Though I do not dislike post modern architecture, I think do believe that architecture should complement the flora and fauna that can be found at particular places – this is what most ancients do. I believe that culture and architecture evolved hand in hand with each other and in Dubai, the buildings does not 'feel' to have a local culture. In fact, more than anything, it seems to be a local imitation of external cultures.

What is more, Dubai's policy are, in my view, both unsustainable and quite frankly, misguided. I don't think that 'progress' should be equated largely with material wealth, and we should look at the a lot of other factors before deciding to do something. Read what the UN Human Rights Commissions and Human Rights Watch has to say about Dubai's foreign workers, and try searching for the statistics of deaths of foreign workers in Dubai.

I do not, however, say that Dubai has not any success, but I am highly sceptical of their achievements as I do not subscribe to the same understanding of 'success' as defined by material growth. A country can be rich within a few years, that is true, but it does not mean it can last. Alexander the Great built, in his time, the greatest empire on the face of the earth, only to have it crumble with his death. The Romans were only able to construct a vast empire after the fall of both Carthage and the Etruscan, and therefore was slow. But what they built was solid, even if they borrowed from the Greeks.

In short, I do not subscribe to the view that Dubai is a great city and I think I have passed my romanticised version of the city. I think it's too early to tell. And I simply disagree with the whole philosophy.

Wallahua'lam