Fig. 15 Kievskaya, subway gallery.

All the images are public domain

es [essays] 1 Deira, Bur Dubai and Shindhaga (from Noor Ali Rashid, The UAE visions of change through the lens of Noor Ali Rashid, Motivate, Dubai 1997).
Fig. 16 Chistye Prudy Station, pavilion.

References
or courtesy of the author 1 N. Kolli, Arkhitektura Metro, in L. M. 2 The creek’s dock in the 1950s (from Noor Ali Rashid, The UAE visions of change through the lens of Noor Ali Rashid, Motivate, Dubai 1997).
Fig. 17 Krasnye Voroda Station, pavilion. Kaganovicha, Kak my stroili metro, Istoriya
Fabrik i Zavodov, Moskva 1935, pp. 175-
185.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
2 J. Bouvard, La città del futuro: La
metropolitana di Mosca, in U.R.S.S. anni
’30 – ’50, paesaggi dell’utopia staliniana,
Dubai Creek:
A.I. Antonovič, N.I. Golinevič, N. P. Dmitriev, Moskovskaja gorodskaja železnaja doroga (metropoliten), T-vo tipo-lit, Vladimir Čicerin, Moskva 1902.

from commercial dock

A. De Magistris, Mazzotta, Milano 1997, p.
48.
L. Kaganovič, L’urbanisme soviétique, Bureau d’éditions FG St Denis, Paris 1932.
S. Kravek, Metro na zapade, in «Arkhitektura SSSR», n.4, 1934. 3 As early as the feudal age-old Moscow

to strategic urban infrastructure

N. Kolli, Arkhitektura Metro, in L. M. Kaganovicha, Kak my stroili metro, Istoriya Fabrik i Zavodov, Moscow 1935. had developed according to a radiocentric
growth pattern, as Kaganovi pronounced
V. Quilici, Città russa e città sovietica, Caratteri della struttura storica: Ideologia e pratica della trasformazione socialista, Mazzotta, Milano 1976. in 1932, arguing that this did not collide
A. Carenko, E. Fëdorov, Moskovskij metropoliten imeni V.I. Lenina: spravočnik-puteboditel, Transport, Moskva 1984. with the will to make Moscow the Soviet
city par excellence. Cf. L. Kaganovi ,
K. Wolf (Ph.D thesis), Russia’s revolutionary underground: the construction of the Moscow subway (1931-35), The Ohio State University, 1994. L’urbanisme soviétique, Bureau d’éditions
A. De Magistris, La costruzione della città totalitaria: il piano di Mosca e il dibattito sulla città sovietica tra gli anni venti e cinquanta, CittàStudiEdizioni, Milano 1995. FG St Denis, Paris 1932.
A. De Magistris, U.R.S.S. anni ’30 – ’50, paesaggi dell’utopia staliniana, Mazzotta, Milano 1997.
4 A. Carenko, E. Fëdorov, Moskovskij 1 2
J. Bouvard, La città del futuro: La metropolitana di Mosca, in U.R.S.S. anni ’30-’50, paesaggi dell’utopia staliniana, A. De Magistris, Mazzotta, Milano 1997. metropoliten imeni V.I. Lenina: spravo nik-
E. Essaian, Il piano generale di ricostruzione di Mosca del 1935, in «Storia Urbana», vol.101, 2002, pp. 51-75. puteboditel’, Transport, Moskva 1984, p. 3.
M. O’mahony, Archaeological fantasies: constructing history on the Moscow metro, in «The Modern Language Review», Vol. 98 (1), Jan, 2003.
S.O. Khan-Magomedov, Nikolai Ladovskij, Izvestija, Moskva 2007. 5 A.I. Antonovič, N.I. Golinevič, N. P.

D. Nojtatc, Moskovskoe metro: ot perbych planov do belikoj strijki stalinizma (1897 – 1935), ROSSPEN, Moskva 2013. Dmitriev, Moskovskaja gorodskaja

T. Vujosevic, Soviet Modernity and the Aesthetics of Gleam: The Moscow Metro in Collective Histories of Construction, in «Journal of Design History», Vol. 26 (3), 2013. železnaja doroga (metropoliten), T-vo tipo-
lit, Vladimir Čicerin, Moskva 1902.

15 16 17 6 D. Nojtatc, Moskovskoe metro: ot perbych

planov do belikoj strijki stalinizma (1897 –
1935), ROSSPEN, Moskva 2013.

7 In J. Bouvard, op. cit., p. 50.

8 In N. Kolli, op. cit., p. 175.

9 On such occasions indeed, many stations

would provide refuge to civilians and in
1941, on the twenty-fourth anniversary of
the October Revolution, the Majakovskaja
Station hosted an assembly.

10 The acronym stands for Architecture

and Planning Commission of Moscow,
Mossovet and Mk.

11 The architect responsible for Metrostroj

Sergej Kravec, on his journey to the West,
reviewed and meticulously compared
the various metros, highlighting for each
positive and negative aspects. For this
purpose: S. Kravek, Metro na zapade, in
«Arkhitektura SSSR», n.4, 1934.

12 In J. Bouvard, op. cit., p. 53-4.

system of illumination, had a dynamic
aspect underlining the geometric-
structural characteristics of the gallery.
Moreover, there are principles of visible
communication made evident in his
project through the use of color: red
for the entrance, blue for the exit and
beyond, and an elaborate mapping in
colors for the floors in order to organize
the flow of travelers13. The gallery
was completed, then later renovated:
in its current state very little of the
original is intact. Whereas for Krasnye
Voroda Ladovskij, the design plan
of the pavilion was conceived as an
enormous entrance gate: made of a
series of concentric arcs that grow in
width and depth, with very simple lines,
accentuated by white plaster, studied
in such a way as to emphasize the
prospective illusion from both inside and
from outside; in this way the entire main
facade becomes the entrance, crossing,
gate, an invitation to enter, an act of
welcoming amplified symbolically by the
geometry of the crossing, underlining at
the same time the relationships between
architecture, society and urban context.
In the 1940s the Stalinist design that
had been initiated on 21st March
1933, and which generated the precise
blueprint for the network of the entire 5
lines, was finished. In addition to which
opened in 193514, it would include: a
second lot of work (1937-1938) that,
following the Arbat, was to connect the
railway station Kirovskaja in the west
and the Kurskaja station in the east, and
a perpendicular line, the Gor’koskaja;
a third lot, was to connect the
Gor’koskaja station to the Paveletskaja
and extending the Arbat-pokroovskij
connection to Izmajlovskij Park to the
east, work that was completed in just
two years, between 1934 and 193415.
Exactly a century after the Bolshevik
Revolution, the great capital of the
East has expanded considerably not
contradicting the plan of 1935. The first
five lines have been expanded building
new stations. After the death of Stalin
other nine lines were opened following
the constant growth of the city.
Federica Deo
13 S. O. Khan-Magomedov, Nikolai Ladovskij,
Izvestija, Moskva 2007, p. 355.
14 The date initially selected for the opening
of the metro was set for 1934, but the
size of the work proved to be much more
significant than anticipated. Ten months
before the planned inauguration, Kaganoviĉ
decided to significantly increase the speed
of work, and the number of workers rose
from 20,000 to 35,000. Many were vocal
about the improbability of completing
the project as planned in time, including
the communist engineer Bogdanov, who
was kicked out of the party and fired
for the criticism he voiced. The work
continued and in the final period, the
vast number of workers prolonged their
shifts to unspeakable lengths, breaking
for just 5 to 6 hours a day. See the Ph.D
thesis by K.Wolf, Russia’s revolutionary
underground: the construction of the
Moscow subway (1931-35), pp. 239-40 e
pp. 300-1.
15 In J. Bouvard, op. cit., p. 51.
Lieutenant Cogan, author of the first
cartographic map of Dubai dated 1820
and member of his majesty’s British
army, must have thought that the
little village of 1.200 inhabitants had
conveniently taken advantage of the
sea which stretched through the desert
reaching an area today known as Ras
Al Khor. A narrow sandpit created
an entrance to the saltwater canal
which, before crossing the dry land,
folded creating a dock protected from
the rough weather coming from the
Gulf. The “creek” was a strategic point
where to set a village. For a few years
some members of Abu Dhabi’s royal
family, Bani Yas, had come into conflict
with the local establishment and had
moved north along the coast, acquiring
what at the time was only a very small
settlement, thus starting the ruling
dynasty Al Makhtoum1. Lieutenant
Cogan noticed the perimetral wall
which defended the village – majorly
made up of mud houses – from the
attacks of the Bedouins arriving from
the desert. The settlement opened,
instead, towards the sea through the
creek (fig1).
After all, danger came from the dry
inner territory, far less from the sea.
The overlooking sea floor was hardly
crossable except for expert navigators
who knew safer ports of landing.
Moreover, the sea was the fundamental
economic resource. Almost all the food
and natural pearls, which constituted
the most important exported goods,
came from there, at least until the
1920s, when their artificial cultivation
started in Japan. From the sea came
also merchants from India, Iran and
other neighboring countries. The creek
gave the possibility of benefitting from
a natural harbor, safe for the Dhows,
which were traditional commercial
boats. The settlement, located exactly
at the crossing of the land and sea
commercial routes that unraveled from
Europe to south-east Asia, developed
with the arrival of migrants coming
from surrounding countries, from India
to North Africa. In 1841 an epidemic
of Variola spread in the village, which
in the meantime had been named Bur
Dubai, that was when Deira developed.
Its name reminds of the word Al
Estedarah (“roundness” in Arab) which
refers to the shape of the creek in
that point, while there is no certain
etymology of the name “Dubai”2.
Since the southern shore was no
longer considered healthy, the
population massively migrated to
the other side of the creek starting
the expansion of the area which in a
short time became the most important
commercial neighborhood of the
Arabian Gulf, exceeding in extension
the original nucleus of the city. A fire
in 1894 radically changed Deira’s
image. The former housing typologies
and the constructive materials used
until then were no longer considered
safe. The first houses in coral stone
started to appear, constructed by the
wealthiest members, while the rest of
the population continued living in huts
made of palm branches and leaves still
for a long time. A long period of slow
development followed. Al Shindagha
was added to the two original areas,
being located along the strip of land
which constitutes the initial part of the

36 [essays] 37
 3 Abra boats along the creek (from Noor Ali Rashid, The UAE visions of change through the lens of Noor Ali Rashid, Motivate, Dubai 1997).
4 Abra boats along the creek (from Noor Ali Rashid, The UAE visions of change through the lens of Noor Ali Rashid, Motivate, Dubai 1997).
5 Abra boats along the creek today.
6 Deira.
7 The creek towards Deira.
8 Business Bay.
3 4
creek. Here Saeed Al Maktoum, at that
time sheik of Dubai, constructed his
headquarters in 1896.
In the 1930s the pearls cultivation
market suffered a sudden fall and for
many years Dubai remained wedded
to the creek’s shores occupied by
boats, goods and all kinds of trades
sustained by the absence of taxations
on commercial activities3. However, the
original condition of the sea floor didn’t
allow the passage and docking of the
boats whose dimensions progressively
increased over time. Since the 1960s
the “father of Dubai” Sheikh Rashid
bin Saeed Al Maktoum started an
important process of transformation
of the city which in just a few years
turned from very small village into
the most important metropolis in the
Middle East.
Between the 1960s and 1970s, the
canal was subject to several dredging
operations and to the construction of
docks which considerably increased
the draft limitation of the boats allowed
to pass/dock and consequently
its commercial attraction. With the
discovery of petroleum in 1966, the
end of the Trucial States and the
38
5 8
resulting fading-out of the British
Protectorate which had promoted the
current administrative structure of the
United Arab Emirates, Dubai pursued a
different direction of development. After
the adoption and implementation of the
first urban development plans defined
by Jon Harris, the most important
urban expansion is testified by the
north-south axis along Sheikh Zayed
Road towards Abu Dhabi.
Since the 1980s, while maintaining
and increasing its role as commercial
hub through its harbor and airport,
constructed in 1959 and enhanced
in the following years, the city
specialized in free trading (also thanks
to the construction of Port Rashid
inaugurated in 1972) and worldwide
financial operations. Between the
1980s and 1990s the process of
transformation into the tourist capital
of the Middle East began4. During
this period, the urban development
along the creek slowed down
significantly while the shore and the
sea attracted real estate interests.
Dubai soon used up all the plots of
land available between the seashore
and Sheik Zayed Road by means of a
formidable and (back then apparently)
unstoppable urban explosion. In
the meantime, the opening of the
new Jebel Ali commercial harbor
moved the commercial and industrial
barycenter towards south, between
Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The Dubai
Marina area started becoming one of
the most important urban centers with
a high population density. The urban
6 7
sprawl spreads throughout projects
searching for cheap tracts of land
situated far away from the “center”
but still along the major infrastructural
trajectories according to a “leapfrog”
settlement strategy, which to this day
still characterizes the majority of the
metropolitan territory. Dubai’s urban
history seems to bypass the creek,
which, indifferent to the delirious
modernization and expansion of those
years, remains an infrastructure for
short local or regional sea trades. Of
course, the canal swarms with Abras,
boats which allow to cross the creek
for a dirham, and just as many are
the Dhows docking along its pier.
The movement of the city interests
towards south crystallizes the image
and perception of the canal throughout
time. The creek and its shores, at
least in the part included between Bur
Dubai, Chingada and Deira, may be
fully defined as the historic center of
Dubai.
Just as in the Global City’s style this
heritage area keeps little of the original
inhabitants’ culture. In the creek,
we are witnessing the aesthetical
explication of the historic proto-
globalization5. Not the contemporary
one (instantaneous) which is due
to the diffusion of modern means of
communication, but rather that (slow)
which takes place through centuries-
old commercial routes that have
dragged all around the world not only
silk and spices but above all – and
in a much more considerable way
for the urban development of those
centers in which this phenomenon
occurs – populations, traditions and
cultures6. In fact, these neighborhoods
are no longer inhabited by emirates.
The two populous areas are literally
invaded by new Asian and North
African immigrates who provide the
great, though cheap, manpower
required in the Emirates. A social
phenomenon which follows the current
depopulation of the historic center
by the “autochthonous” inhabitants,
then substituted by new immigrants.
It is a common phenomenon in
many contemporary cities, also and
especially in Europe.
The bridges constructed between
1963 and 2007 cross the creek in the
north-south direction, but also define
the areas’ range of use. Between the
mouth of the river and the Al Maktoum
Bridge, the canal is mostly used for
commercial means. This activity starts
fading moving from the mouth of the
river towards the dry land. The first
functional and perceptive boundary is
the floating bridge inaugurated in 2007,
close at night and during most of the
weekend in order to allow the passage
of boats. Thus, it delimits the creek’s
section characterized by a high-density
population and by major landscape
values which has been ignored for
years from the volumetric expansion
along the “seafront” implemented along
the axis to Abu Dhabi.
The coast is a precious resource
mostly because it is limited. That
explains the numerous “extraterrestrial”
operations conquering the marine
space for urban purposes, as in the
case of the two palms. One of the
two is almost entirely completed while
the other (Jebel Ali) can be almost
only perceived through Google maps
satellite views. The crisis of 2008
took it with it, indefinitely interrupting
its construction, just like The world
where now some island-nations are
nearly completed. In order to face
[essays] 39
 9 Dubai Canal.
10 Dubai Canal at night.
11 One of the new pedestrian bridges of the Dubai Canal.
12 West view of the creek. In the foreground the photo shows the Mohammed Bin Rashid Library’s building site, while in the background there are the first towers of the Dubai Creek Harbor.
9 10
the construction industry saturating
the seashore, new “water routes”
are being promoted to increase the
real estate value. With uncertain
success. The business bay area is
constructed along an artificial river
bank completed in 2008. According
to the original city plan, this area
was supposed to become a catalyst
for public spaces and activities.
Though strategically positioned just
outside the downtown area, it has
not brought the expected results in
terms of housing development. The
area had to include approximately
240 towers7, but in 10 years from the
canal’s completion, its shores still
reveal the “leapfrog”’s usual building
rarefaction which does guarantee the
necessary density in order to assure
a functional continuity, plus it avoids
the formation of an urban “fabric”.
Jumeirah Lake Towers barely managed
reaching the awaited development as
well. Started as a “poor brother” of the
much more ambitious Dubai Marina,
this district in the southern area of
Dubai still shows considerable traces
of its non-completion, especially in the
commercial area planned at the inner
40
“lake”’s level.
Anyway, there is always the creek.
The “inner water stream” is always
there, apparently it seems like flowing,
instead it only ripples superficially
according to different wind directions.
In some points, it is large enough
to look like a small sea and it offers
scenarios far away from the sparkling
yet delirious atmosphere of the Sheikh
Zayed Road, pledging residences
outside the metropolitan area, but
nevertheless boasting “stunning views”
of the Burj Khalifa. In Dubai, there
is no better solution for the potential
success of a housing or commercial
project than that of establishing a
close relationship with the water and
the creek, which still offers several
kilometers of barely untouched shores.
Some tourist accommodation facilities
have already reached this awareness.
A series of hotels unravel from Deira
towards the hinterland along the
canal. First come the towers, in the
denser area, then comes Park Hyatt’s
wide green area, in a Moorish style,
provided with golf courses, marina and
even seaplane landing areas.
The first estate project of great
functional ambition designed along
the canal, to the point that it has been
named “city”, is Festival City, which
was started in 2003 close to the
Business Bay Crossing. This mixed-
use program oriented towards the
big business infrastructures includes
three big hotels and is surrounded
by low density housing that gravitate
around an important golf centre. After
the recent renovation works of the
shopping centre, the original marina
has been replaced by facilities for the
world biggest water, fireworks and
multimedia show.
In fact it is the playful aspect, which
is the true driving force behind
Dubai’s “spectacular” connotation
(in a Debordian way), to redefine the
creek’s new uses. The spatial offer for
leisure time (always somehow linked
to consumption) is the driving force
for new investments aimed at huge
residential projects8. They redefine
shores and convert territories, once
inaccessible or forgotten, into public
spaces in an attempt to connect
the various functional nodes with
pedestrian and bike paths. However
the ultimate goal is the struggle to
11
create “places”. In the city built on
the desert’s “tabula rasa” and on the
almost complete absence of spatial
archetypes, the expansion strategy
takes form through the planning
of thematic areas that propose an
identity set in advance9. Motor City,
Festival City, Media City, Silicon Oasis,
these names refer to a functional
specialisation, but it’s actually the
symbolic/evocative dimension
to prevail. The same strategy is
implemented along the creek too. One
example is the underway project of
the Design District, started after the
watercourse beyond the swamp area
of the wildlife sanctuary was extended.
This historically represented the last
part of the creek up to its connection
with the basin of Business Bay. To
connect the creek to the sea the part
through Safa Park to Jumeirah was
missing. This was inaugurated in
2016. Today the Dubai Water Canal
completes a river stream that starts in
Deira/Bur Dubai and flows into the gulf
circumnavigating Downtown.
The inner “river” now is the main
catalyst of the biggest real estate
projects in Dubai, excluding the
southern area near the new Al
Maktoum International Airport. The
urban potential of the river is the
reason behind the race for the urban
development of its bank. The Cultural
Village, currently under way along
the east side of the Business Bay
Crossing, repeats the spatial model
of the pedestrian public space facing
a series of artificial canals and is
surrounded by a volumetric density
set around them in order to exploit the
view on the water. This density makes
for quite a juxtaposition the rear image
of the vast area of Al Jadaf, scattered
with punctual projects that, because
of their rarefied presence and lack of
an organic implementation plan, fail
to take on an urban dimension. The
“Cultural” designation is justified by the
presence of the Jameel Arts Centre
and of the Mohammed Bin Rashid
Library, both under construction.
The Water Canal required both
large investments and large-scale
infrastructure projects that have
had a severe impact on the whole
metropolitan area. Three new bridges
were built over Sheikh Zayed Road, Al
Wasl Road and Jumeirah Road and
12
the whole territory involved by this
new presence has changed its identity.
Those areas, vacant and unattractive
for land speculators, are now a main
focus. It is as if the city, in the areas
interested by the new canal, is rotating
by 180 degrees the buildings’ main
fronts. Today there are new “stunning
views” to pursue and put on the open
market. The creation of the new canal
takes place together with a change
of strategy in the projects promotion.
Traditionally the housing estate was
built and the apartments were sold
first and then the commercial services
arrived supporting their demand.
Nowadays it’s the other way around.
It became clear that in order to attract
interest towards new areas, these
must become “places” first and enter
in the list of leisure time destinations.
This way the water canal’s banks have
been equipped with public furniture
considered appealing for contemporary
public use. Apart from the usual
landscape design of paths and bridges
that allow pedestrian and cycling
crossing, the benches also work as Wi-
Fi hotspots and are equipped with USB
ports. Even if the territory sometimes
is still not even under construction, the
goal is to turn the canal into a public
“place” that people can “ontologically”
visit and which is part of the possible
city’s attractions, long before people
can really start living in it, thus
developing a sense of belonging,
desire and therefore expanding its
commercial potential.
The same strategy is fully adopted
in possibly the most ambitious
project among the many underway.
The masterplan for the Dubai Creek
Harbour, set approximately at half
the “inner river”, has a massive scale.
Thanks to the “Rise”, the construction
site is already a leisure time
destination. This is a space that faces
the canal and in addition to the usual
stunning views offers a variety of free
events. It is provided with children
facilities and popular food containers
that activate its public use, turning
the place from a remote location to a
popular one. This may seem a losing
investment for its “developer”, but in this
manner he manages to put his housing
estate from one in the outset to one
in a city’s major destination. The most
important part of the project, however,
is reserved to the new tallest building
in the world: the Dubai Creek Tower,
designed by Santiago Calatrava.
The tower will be a new landmark for
the city, which must keep impressing
to globally raise interest and continue
being attractive from a commercial
point of view through its urban “show”.
Adrian Smith, Burj Khalifa’s designer,
more than once has stated that the
skyscrapers race for the tallest building
world record are not so profitable
because they are so expensive. In
time, if the project turns out to be
successful, the capital invested could
profitably come back, but it is a very
long process. The “record” towers
have another goal. It is the areas
that are close to them that become
interesting because of the presence
of a “landmark” and, consequently,
also enormously increase their
value. The Dubai Creek Tower is a
building operation that cancels the
initial investment deficit because it
proposes the typological solution of
the “watchtower”. It is a “non-building”
building. Meaning an architecture that
does not foresee houses, hotels or
offices. Therefore it’s not a building.
[essays] 41
 13 Dubai creek Tower.
14 The Wildlife Sanctuary.
13
This way it is possible to save the high
costs of construction and still achieve
the same result in terms of iconic and
commercial potential. Someone might
define it, at least from a “real estate”
point of view, the idea of the century.
Finally, to fully understand the urban
potential of the construction and
completion of the creek, flowing into
the sea near Jumeirah after starting
in Bur Dubai, it is necessary to
analyse its transportation potential.
The development plan promoted by
the Roads and Transport Authority
(RTA) is also an ambitious one. A
total of six million passengers are
expected for the new water taxis and
bus lines that will cover all the areas
examined above. With the opening
of the water canal nine new stops of
the service - which not only already
reached the first part of the creek, but
also reached the artificial housing of
the Palms until Dubai Marina by sea
- were inaugurated10. It is an important
opportunity for the city that traditionally
suffers traffic congestion, which in
this way succeeds in maintaining
public transportation way lower than
private one. Sea transport will also be
42
All the images are public domain
or courtesy of the author
14
fundamental for the success of all the
References
estate development that is taking place
along the canal, offering an alternative
mobility to the potentially (for they are
not certain) new residents.
In conclusion, maybe rhetorically,
one should ask what will happen to
the hundreds of pink flamingos that,
oblivious of what is happening, still
remain there, creating bright splashes
of colour that contrast with the
surroundings, populating the marshes
of the wildlife sanctuary together
with over 450 animal species. The
environmental impact of the whole
Dubai creek operation is uncertain.
The road taken by the emirate toward
greater sustainability is sure, but the
impact of the new projects seems to
definitively and irreversibly alter the few
natural areas still present.
Cristiano Luchetti
es [essays] 1 Cover for Archigram issue No. 4, Zoom, 1964.
2 Peter Cook, Instant City, drawing and collage, 1968.
3 Peter Cook, Instant City, drawing and collage, 1968.
Archigram city (e)scapes
The love is gone.
The poetry in bricks is lost.
We want to drag into building some of the poetry
of countdown, orbital helmets,
discord of mechanical body transportation methods
and leg walking1.
2
1 R. Schofield, Islands and Maritime Boundaries of the Gulf 1798–1960, Archive Editions, UK 1990, p.
545.
2 How did Dubai, Abu Dhabi and other cities get their names? Experts reveal all, in «UAE Interact», 30
March 2007. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
3
3 L. Karim, Modernity and tradition in Dubai architecture, 2009 (http://www.alshindagah.com/
september99/architecture.htm)
4 Sampler & Eigner, Sand to Silicon, Motivate, UAE 2008.
5 «Proto-globalization or early modern globalization is a period of the history of globalization roughly
spanning the years between 1600 and 1800, following the period of archaic globalization. First
introduced by historians A. G. Hopkins and Christopher Bayly, the term describes the phase of
increasing trade links and cultural exchange that characterized the period immediately preceding the
advent of so-called “modern globalization” in the 19th century» (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-
globalization). Quoting A.G. Hopkins, Globalization in World History, Pimlico, London 2002, pp. 4-8
6 A. Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, Polity Press, Cambridge 1991, p. 64: «globalization
may therefore be defined as the intensification of global social relationships, linking distant places in
such way that local events are shaped by events taking place many miles away, and vice versa».
7 http://dubai-properties.ae/en/Flexible_Images/FactSheets/BBE.pdf
8 For more on the Debordian concept of “Spectacle” and its application in an interpretation of Dubai:
R. Martini, C. Luchetti, The City Rises. On Dubai and Global Cities, in ARCHTHEO’15 IX. Theory and
history of architecture, Dakam, Instanbul 2015, p. 379.
9 R. Martini, C. Luchetti, An-archetype Dubai. An interpretation of a global city, in «CONTEMPART’15.
Urban Identity, Space Studies and Contemporary Arts», 8-9, June 2015. It was 1961 when a bunch of fresh Greene and Mike Webb (later followed
London graduates started to meet by Warren Chalk, Ron Herron and
10 RTA Annual Statistical Report, https://www.rta.ae/wpsv5/links/stats/RTA_stats_2011.pdf
between Swiss Cottage and Hampstead Dennis Crompton) decided to create
to criticise on-going projects, write a new magazine (fig.1) to be able to
verificare articles on newspapers, work on publish their unconventional ideas that
competitions and essentially «prop wouldn’t have found any other mean
allineamento one another up against the boredom of of circulation. The self-made magazine
working in London architecture offices»2. was named «Archigram» from the
It was during those entertaining conflation of the words architecture and
meetings that Peter Cook, David telegram or aerogramme, to underline
[essays] 43