44 Urban Planning
Dubai’s Islands, source: Wikimedia Commons, 2008
by contemporary glass, steel and concrete towers and skyscrapers like the Burj Khalifa, Burj al Arab and the Emirates Towers. Off the north coast of Dubai, the cities luxurious man made islands are located. Those are private residential islands with a few commercial offerings like the Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Jebel Ali and he World Archipelago. Vision, Branding & Current Development
In 2007, Dubai launched a new long term development plan, The Dubai Strategic Plan 2015. This plan outlined five areas strategic aspects of development, economic, social, security, justice and safety, infrastructure land and environment, and government excellence (Dubaiplan2021.ae, 2015). Economic development focuses on GDP growth, improving productivity, economic stability and competitiveness, while social development focused on national identity and cohesion, education, social services and culture. Infrastructure, land and environment development is concerned with urban planning, energy and water, transportation, environment and waste management, while developments in safety, security and justice are to deal with better security and order, protection of civil rights and freedom, the management of crises and disasters, and equality in the judicial system. Finally government excellence development targets strengthening forward looking strategies, organisations and structures,
e fficiency, responsiveness and customer services and empowering and motivating public service employees. These efforts are to further anchor Dubai as the centre of a continuously growing region and as a link between east and west (Dubaiplan2021.ae, 2015). In 2013, a new tourism vision for 2020 was approved. This plan is to cope with the Word Expo 2020 in Dubai and it aims at accommodate 20 million visitors per year, which is double the number of visitors the city hosted in 2012. The plan stretches over multiple fields including policies, infrastructure, product enhancement and services, events and destination marketing. The goal of the 2020 plan is putting Dubai on the leisure and business travel map as a first choice destination (Visitdubai. com, 2015) by focusing on three main topics: ●● to position Dubai and the UAE as a top family destination – by investing in activities, events and attractions which cater for families ●● moving Dubai from a regional hub for events to an international one ●● Dubai as a business destination by improving business tourism offers and services and promote Dubai as the “most effective place to do business” (Shweta, 2015). In 2015, Dubai launched yet another plan: Dubai Strategic plan 2021. This plan marks a new chapter in the story of Dubai and it is