In less than fifty years, what was once a sleepy village of a few thousand inhabitants has become one of the world’s most dynamic cities, home to more than one million inhabitants. Poised between Europe and the Far East, Dubai is now a major international transport center, a global business hub, and a glamorous vacation destination.

Today, Dubai strives for nothing less than architectural superlatives: The Palm and The World, enormous artificial island developments that are visible from space; the world’s tallest building, which will be completed in 2009; and the Dubai Marina, where 120 towers are planned for the coming years.

This book looks at Dubai’s architectural innovations—from port developments to skyscrapers, from resort architecture to iconic buildings—and contemplates the meaning of this rapid ascent as a global city for the third millennium.