It also makes money from construction projects. It’s one of the big reasons they offer residence visas to people who buy real estate there.
I live in Dubai but grew up in the United States. Despite what people may believe, there is freedom of religion here, women aren’t oppressed, and the government genuinely cares about having a good city to live in.
I don't want to open a flame war, but I visited the city during the Expo and its a highway with a stripe of skyscrapers on each side and slums beyond. It's impossible to walk anywhere. (To be fair, the public transport is pretty good, as long as you live next to the highway.)
When I read "a good city to live in" I imagine something like Vienna.
That is fair. I guess my comparison is San Diego (where I grew up) and Mexico, where I lived all of my adult life until moving to Dubai in 2022.
The city is building a new metro line and improving on walkability as new neighborhoods of high population density pop up. It will still be very focused on shopping malls with AC because of the heat during the summers. Official records of real estate transactions have a data point for "closest shopping mall" for a reason.
If you’ve ever had a gun or knife pointed at you, trust me that “walkability” is not going to be high on your priorities of what makes a city a good place to live. The UAE is safer than Switzerland.
I actually liked how walkable Mexico City is. It used to not be great but I feel that in recent times it's a much nicer city to live in than Dubai. Of course that's only based on living there for 6 months and being relatively wealthy (that said I'd argue Dubai is also only nice if you have the means).
"I went to <insert any major city here> and there's tall buildings and slums beyond"
Even Vienna has slum-like areas, every major city does. Not sure how that's a knock against Dubai. I'm not even sure what slums you saw in Dubai, Having lived there for a few years there's definitely low income housing in certain parts but I'd struggle to call them slums.
