Dubai will host the World Expo 2020
After years of hard work and dedication, Dubai has won the bid of becoming the host of the Expo 2020. This is a great moment for Dubai to showcase itself so at Meet The Cities we keep a close eye on this fantastic event. At this moment the United Arab Emirates are working not only on the Expo site but also to get the facilities and infrastructure in order to smoothly transport the millions of visitors. Dubai will do everything to leave the world a lasting impression by showing spectacular architecture, bringing delicious food from all over the world, showing and discussing the latest technologies, showing thoughtful exhibitions and bringing different cultures together. This will done with the help of hundreds of companies, persons and countries. The whole setup of the Expo will be in line with the theme Connecting Minds and Creating the Future.
Dubai Expo 2020: Connecting Minds, Creating the Future
History of the Expo
The Expo, also known as World Expo or World fair, is an international exhibition and attracts a large public. Each Expo is usually held in another part of the world and varies in character, but it has always a central theme which is of universal concern to all of humanity. The World Expos are considered as the world’s largest global events after the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup.
In 1928 the Convention Relating to International Exhibitions created the BIE (International Exhibitions Bureau, or in French the Bureau International des Expositions). This BIE serves as the international sanctioning body for the registered exhibitions and recognized exhibitions. The registered exhibitions are commonly known as the Expos and the recognized exhibitions are commonly known as the specialized – or the international expositions.
The Expos are the most extravagant exhibitions and have a wide array of themes, but these themes are related to all of humanity. Their duration is between six weeks and six months. Some of these Expos have attracted between 50 and 70 million visitors. Since the 21st century they take place at least at every five years. The most recent World Expos were in 2010 in Shanghai, China and in 2015 in Milan, Italy.
Winning the competition
In the race of becoming the host of the World Expo 2020 Dubai, United Arab Emirates competed with cities like São Paulo, Brazil and Yekaterinburg, Russia and Izmir, Turkey.
At November 27, 2013 the BIE chose Dubai as the winner in the bid for hosting the World Expo 2020. With the choice for Dubai the Expo will be for the first time ever hosted in the Middle-East. It will also be the largest event ever executed in the Middle-East. In Dubai they were so pleased with the win that they bursted out firework from the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. And from the top of this same Burj Khalifa Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum waved the UAE flag. For students across the United Arab Emirates the day after was declared a national holiday.
In Dubai the people were very glad and excited that they won the bid for Expo 2020, because of multiple reasons. The Expo is a great way to promote the capabilities of the city of Dubai. This exhibition could also create up to 277,000 new jobs. And the number of visitors to Dubai could increase in the period of the World Expo with more than 25 million. Of these visitors is estimated that about 70% will come from outside the United Arab Emirates. It is estimated that this would bring an economic stimulation of about $40 billion. Also according to the International Monetary Funds (IMF) the Expo 2020 will bring a rise in the gross domestic product (GDP) of Dubai.
Expo 2020 Dubai
The Expo will open at October 20, 2020 and will be open 7 days a week. After 173 days it will close at April 10, 2021. The location will be at Jebel Ali which is about six kilometres from Al Maktoum International Airport. Because of its location near the western border of the Dubai Emirate it will be easy to get at the Expo 2020 site not only from Dubai International Airport and Al Maktoum International Airport but also from Abu Dhabi International Airport. And the Red line of the Dubai Metro will be extended with a station at the site to make it also accessible via public transport. The Expo site will cover an area of about 438 hectare (1083 acres) where about 190 country pavilions can show their capabilities. If you want an impressive view over the site and its area you should visit the top of the rotating observation tower. The Expo site will be designed in a mode that it can host 300,000 visitors per day at peak times. But the estimated number of average visitors on a weekday will be around 153,000. This is why there will be also over 200 food and beverage outlets from all over the world and 60 daily live entertainment shows. Besides the great hotels that Dubai already has, many extra hotels will be realized to provide enough rooms for the millions of visitors that the Expo 2020 will attract.
The main theme of the Dubai Expo 2020 will be: “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”. And the sub-themes will be: Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability. The theme emphasizes the great opportunities which are possible with cooperation in our increasingly interconnected world.
Participants are inspired to organize themselves around shared global challenges, because collaboration and innovation are the cornerstones of the masterplan. Al Wasl plaza, which means “the connection” in Arabic, will be the center of the Expo and connects three pavilions. These three pavilions each represent one of the sub-themes Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability. Each pavilion gets its own best practice areas and innovation pods.
The first subtheme Opportunity stands for unlocking the potential for people and communities to contribute to a better future. This pavilion will be made from organic materials. Here you can join different explorations that demonstrate the Sustainable Development Goals for a better world. The second subtheme Mobility stands for examining the creation of smarter and more productive connections, physically and virtually. At this pavilion you will find inventions related to the past, present and future of movement, from ancient exploration to AI (artificial intelligence). There will also be other exceptional highlights such as the largest elevating platform of the world, the city of the future and robot- and drone waiters.The third subtheme is Sustainability and stands for looking at ways that we can pursue progress without compromising the fundamental needs of future generations. At this pavillion can you explore innovative sustainability projects and gain a lot of knowledge about this subject. This is also the pavilion where visitors can pledge to charity and projects that are committed to sustainability.
The layout of the area will be futuristic, and the pavilions will be inspired by the traditional Arabic souks. Many walkways will be covered by futuristic sun shades which are via solar power able to supply a part of the Expo’s power needs. These shades will at night display lights and projections. In total half of the needed power for Expo will come from renewable sources and half of this will come from the Expo area itself.
Ambitions of Dubai
Together with the Expo 2020 Dubai is building the world’s largest solar power project. Dubai also has started several programs for their ambition to make Dubai the happiest city in 2020.
As time progresses Dubai will reveal more of its ambitious and futuristic ideas. Meet The Cities will keep you updated as more of Dubai’s plans get revealed. This Expo will become very spectacular, because Dubai tries to leave a lasting legacy and to set a new standard for future Expos.