‘Dubai... where the future begins’ was the slogan of Dubai’s strategic plan for 2015. Now at the end of 2014, one financial crisis and some seven years later, we might ask the question whether Dubai has delivered on its promise? In retrospective, we have to acknowledge that not everything went straightforward but for the past 15 years, Dubai has been one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Between the year 2000 and 2014, Dubai has more than doubled its population to count today some 2.2 million people and while this growth rate seeks its comparison, it also reflects a global trend.
More and more people are moving to urban areas. Since the early 2000s the majority of people live in cities, and expectations are that by 2050, 75 per cent of the world population will be living in urban settings. We could speak of an urban age that will automatically, have an effect on how we approach international cooperation. In such an urban age, global cities like London, Shanghai and Dubai will have a special role to play in what could become known as ‘city diplomacy’.
For instance, already today, the global network of Mayors for Peace combines over 6,000 cities and municipalities in support for an international ban of nuclear weapons. Other examples are the Municipal Alliance for Peace in the Middle East or the Global Network on Safer Cities. In other words, international relations are coming down to cities in situations in which these can help in capacity building, best-practice knowledge transfer or act as trusted low profile international agents supporting national campaigns such as in the field of humanitarian aid.
In the light of both such developments, the increasing importance of cities as major economic and political hubs in general, and the breath-taking growth of Dubai during the past 15 years in particular, strategic city diplomacy must take a special position in Dubai’s future plans.
The most prominent example is certainly the upcoming world exposition. If we do it right, the Expo 2020 bid is more than just another quest of symbolic power. Backed by a communication strategy on city level, our efforts must go beyond the economic short-term effect of such a mega event opening up doors for long-term relations to other global but sub-state actors.
With that in mind, the Expo 2020, therefore, was a strategic move to lead Dubai into the diplomatic realities of the 21st century; always at the forefront of regional and global progress, as originally outlined in the strategic plan for 2015. It is indeed, a promise kept.
- The reader is a German assistant professor based in Dubai
