Dubai Wins 2020 Expo Bid

Fireworks were launched from the Burj Khalifa and children were given a holiday from school last week when Dubai was announced as the host city of the 2020 World Expo. The UAE city's theme of “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future” asserts that Dubai Expo 2020 will be "a platform for connectivity to help pioneer new partnerships for growth and sustainability for the future." Dubai bested a trio of cities in Brazil, Russia and Turkey to become the first Middle Eastern city to host an Expo.

HOK is leading the master plan of the 1,082-acre (438-hectare) Expo site, located on the southwestern edge of Dubai in Jebel Ali, near Dubai’s new Al Maktoum International Airport and Jebel Ali Port. According to HOK, "the plan looks to the future while paying homage to Emirati culture and heritage," with a design of three pavilions that converge at a central souk-inspired central plaza. While Dubai may be a symbol for unsustainable practices (air conditioned skyscrapers and a car-dependent urban layout in the desert), the Expo theme and master plan boast of sustainability as best practices for the future. The city, architects, and participating countries have seven years to reconcile the contradictions of the city's reality and the Expo's ambitions.