For a country that has boasted the world’s tallest building and its biggest aquarium, Dubai’s latest plans are even more audacious: the world’s biggest shopping mall, with 7km of temperature-controlled street network.
Unveiled this week by the emirate’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the Mall of the World includes an 8 million sq ft mall, a theme park covered during the scorching summer months and 100 hotels and serviced apartments.
The mall will include the world’s largest indoor park. Picture: Dubai Holding
Dubai Holding, the company behind the project, says on its website that the mall will be the world’s largest, but that claim could not be independently confirmed. By comparison, Minnesota’s Mall of America, the largest in the US, is 4.87 million sq ft.
Plans for the Dubai project also include a cultural and theatre district drawing inspiration from New York’s Broadway, a shopping thoroughfare based on London’s Oxford Street and a “wellness district” aimed at attracting medical tourists.
The complex will be built near the Mall of the Emirates, which has an indoor ski slope, and is a short drive from the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower, and the adjacent Dubai Mall. That shopping centre is currently the emirate’s largest and features a dinosaur skeleton, an indoor ice-skating rink and a multi-storey aquarium.
“The growth in family and retail tourism underpins the need to enhance Dubai’s tourism infrastructure as soon as possible,” Sheikh Mohammed said in a statement announcing the plan. “This project complements our plans to transform Dubai into a cultural, tourist and economic hub for the 2 billion people living in the region around us, and we are determined to achieve our vision.”
Dubai Holding gave no details about the expected cost or completion date.
Dubai has long used high-profile, big-ticket real estate projects to drive economic growth and establish itself as an international tourist destination. Its ambitions were slowed by a financial crisis that came to a head in 2009, forcing the delay or cancellation of some of its more outlandish plans.
The emirate’s economy has rebounded strongly in the years since the crisis, driven by trade, transportation and tourism. However, the current scheme has drawn criticism for being unsustainable.
The Mall of the World plans were unveiled by Dubai’s leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. Dubai Holding
