{"id":44,"date":"2005-07-17T18:43:29","date_gmt":"2005-07-17T22:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=44"},"modified":"2005-07-19T16:32:57","modified_gmt":"2005-07-19T20:32:57","slug":"sinister-paradise-of-dubai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2005\/07\/17\/sinister-paradise-of-dubai\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinister Paradise of Dubai"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dubai\"<\/p>\n

Dubai, the Las Vegas of the Middle East, has a distinctive and inviolable criterion when it comes to development in its city: everything must be “world class,” which means number one in The Guinness Book of Records<\/em>. Thus Dubai is building the world’s largest theme park, the biggest mall, the highest building, and the first sunken hotel among other firsts.<\/p>\n

But the building of this city is rife with stories of modern-day slavery and organized crime. Mike Davis<\/a><\/strong>, the author of important books like Dead Cities<\/em> and City of Quartz<\/em>, wrote a great piece posted on Mother Jones’ website. Read it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lagre(ish) images of two Dubai projects:
\nBurj Dubal<\/a> skyscraper
\nJebel Ali<\/a> Palm Island<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dubai, the Las Vegas of the Middle East, has a distinctive and inviolable criterion when it comes to development in its city: everything must be “world class,” which means number one in The Guinness Book of Records. Thus Dubai is building the world’s largest theme park, the biggest mall, the highest building, and the firstContinue reading “Sinister Paradise of Dubai”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1022,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[379,384,380,377,382,383,385,378,21,381],"class_list":["post-44","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-urban-design","tag-author","tag-burj-dubal-skyscraper-jebel-ali-palm-island","tag-dubai","tag-jebel-ali-palm-island","tag-las-vegas","tag-middle-east","tag-mike-davis","tag-mother-jones","tag-other-cities","tag-quartz"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSinister Paradise of Dubai - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2005\/07\/17\/sinister-paradise-of-dubai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sinister Paradise of Dubai - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dubai, the Las Vegas of the Middle East, has a distinctive and inviolable criterion when it comes to development in its city: everything must be “world class,” which means number one in The Guinness Book of Records. Thus Dubai is building the world’s largest theme park, the biggest mall, the highest building, and the firstContinue reading "Sinister Paradise of Dubai"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2005\/07\/17\/sinister-paradise-of-dubai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-07-17T22:43:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2005-07-19T20:32:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/motherjones.com\/commentary\/columns\/2005\/07\/dubai_01_265x236.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew Blackett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matthew Blackett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2005\/07\/17\/sinister-paradise-of-dubai\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2005\/07\/17\/sinister-paradise-of-dubai\/\",\"name\":\"Sinister Paradise of Dubai - Spacing Toronto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2005\/07\/17\/sinister-paradise-of-dubai\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2005\/07\/17\/sinister-paradise-of-dubai\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/motherjones.com\/commentary\/columns\/2005\/07\/dubai_01_265x236.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2005-07-17T22:43:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2005-07-19T20:32:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/4f3b818d7e3504a6e4626afc774b2574\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2005\/07\/17\/sinister-paradise-of-dubai\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2005\/07\/17\/sinister-paradise-of-dubai\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2005\/07\/17\/sinister-paradise-of-dubai\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/motherjones.com\/commentary\/columns\/2005\/07\/dubai_01_265x236.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/motherjones.com\/commentary\/columns\/2005\/07\/dubai_01_265x236.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2005\/07\/17\/sinister-paradise-of-dubai\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sinister Paradise of Dubai\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Toronto\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/4f3b818d7e3504a6e4626afc774b2574\",\"name\":\"Matthew Blackett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3eb8fd719ea39ea94dc1b32911c80f51?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3eb8fd719ea39ea94dc1b32911c80f51?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Matthew Blackett\"},\"description\":\"Matthew Blackett is the publisher, creative director and one of the founders of Spacing magazine. 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