Look: How Dubai has changed between 1981 and 2019
Dubai Frame video gives a glimpse into the rapid changes around Dubai’s World Trade Center
From almost a desert to a city with one of the tallest skylines in the world, a video shows it all. The short video posted on the official Instagram handle of the Dubai Frame on Monday evening showed areas surrounding Dubai’s World Trade Center and how it has changed.
“The Trade Centre Tower was the first skyscraper to be completed in Dubai in 1979 . From then to now, Dubai has come a long way and houses some of the world’s tallest skyscrapers,” reads the video’s caption.
Dubai’s skyline one of the tallest in the world
According to Dubai Tourism’s official website, Visit Dubai: “In terms of the number of buildings standing at over 150m, Dubai ranks third in the world after Hong Kong and New York.”
The emirate also has “the greatest number of buildings standing at over 300m - 18 in all and 10 under construction - making its skyline taller than Manhattan’s or Hong Kong’s or Chicago’s.”
Not just that, Dubai, a city that has become a global hub, aims to be a smart city by 2021. With autonomous transportation, smart government services, 5G communications, the emirate is right on track.
Old pictures of Dubai
Here’s a look at some old pictures from our archives that show how far Dubai has come in just a few years:
An oil rig jacket being towed through the Creek between the modern day Maktoum bridge and the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry building. The Creek is seen with the undeveloped Shindagha in front of the busy Port Rashid in 1980.
From the Trade Centre, looking south along the Abu Dhabi Road (now Shaikh Zayed Road). The Trade Centre apartments are the only buildings on the left of the road (in front of where Dubai International Finance Centre now stands), and only the Al Rostamani Towers and the ‘Toyota building’ are on the right.
In 1979 Safa Park in Dubai was still largely without trees, and the grass was only just starting to cover all the ground. It had opened to the public in 1975 but was still a long way from the major attraction it would become in later years.
Work in progress on the 40th floor of the Burj Khalifa in 2006. A consortium led by South Korea’s Samsung Corporation won the bid to build the world’s tallest tower for Dh3.28 billion.