Title:

The Scheherazade Syndrome: Fiction and Fact in Dubai's Quest to Become a Global City

Author(s):

Bani-Hashim, A. Reem
Irazabal, Clara
Bynum, Greta

Date:

2010

Type:

Articles

Department:

Architecture, Planning, and Preservation

Volume:

15

Permanent URL:

http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:11828

Book/Journal Title:

Architectural Theory Review

Abstract:

Cities compete with each other for position in the global economy. Dubai has emerged as a leader in tactical deployment of narrative as a tool of urban branding. Its boosters draw upon the mythos of the exotic desert-city oasis, or suggest that Dubai is a neoliberal free-market development legend or a techno-utopia in which human ingenuity conquers all obstacles. This article offers the tale of Scheherazade as a metaphor for discussion of the importance of storytelling in contemporary global urban marketing. The authors analyse Dubai's mythic urban image and reveal the paradoxes of its fantastical development, uncovering its unsustainable and inequitable dimensions.

Subject(s):

Urban planning
Middle Eastern studies

DOI:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13264826.2010.495455

Item views:

176

Metadata:

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