A walk through Dubai's supercity of futuristic skyscrapers made me uneasy for any city that mimics its rapid development

The city ofDubaiin the United Arab Emirates is known for its extravagant, newly built landmarks like the Burj Khalifa, thePalm Jumeirah, and theDubai Mall. In just over two decades, the city has skyrocketed from a desert backwater port to a thriving metropolis with the third-most skyscrapers in the world.While the rapid development has produced a futuristic city, it has come at the cost of hundreds of thousands of workers and produced a city that can feel soulless. Dubai markets itself as a liberal Hong Kong-for-the-Middle-East, but it hides the fact that it is still ruled by an autocracy and that legal rights frequently don't hold up for foreigners.During a visit to Dubai's downtown, it became apparent just how radically the city has developed and the consequencesboth positive and negativeof that development.Three decades ago, Dubai was little more than desert.The city exploded in prosperity after the United Arab Emirates discovered oil in 1966, leading to a development boom that has resulted in the world's tallest building, thesecond-biggest mall, the most luxurious hotel, and more skyscrapers than any city besides New York and Hong Kong.From the outside, Dubai looks like an unmitigated success story. Whereas many other Gulf nationsfrom Qatar to Saudi Arabi to Bahrainstill rely heavily on oil exports to drive their economy, Dubai is driven by tourism, real estate, tech, shipping, and financial services.Oil and gas now accounts for less than 1% of Dubai's economy, down from 50% at one point, according to Bloomberg.The development has been aimed at one thing: becoming the Middle East's Hong Kong or Singaporean easy place to visit, spend money, and do business.But for those looking at Dubai and wishing their country or city would use it as a model, Dubai may look more like a cautionary tale. The shiny, glass towers hide the trampling of the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers that built them, the city's often opaque and arbitrary legal system, and the fear over what happens to the economy when the cranes stop building and the flow of foreign investment dries upas happened in 2009.I recently spent a day in Dubai's downtown to see the fruits of the city's rapid development.SEE ALSO:I visited outlandishly wealthy Dubai, known as the 'city of gold,' and was surprised by how much fun you can have even without billionsDON'T MISS:Dubai's most outrageous open-air market sells only gold and has a $3 million, 141-pound gold ringPrior to the discovery of oil in Dubai in 1966, the city was an unremarkable port in the Gulf region. While it had existed as a trading port along important Middle Eastern trade routes since the 1800s, its main industry was pearling, which had dried up as of the 1930s.Source: Government of DubaiThe discovery of oil in the United Arab Emirates in 1966 changed everything. While Dubai's reserves were nothing compared to that of neighboring Abu Dhabi, Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, was determined to turn the city into a trading hub.But even as recently as 1979, seen here, the city was trudging along. By most accounts, things changed in the 1990s and early 2000s. In 1985, the city opened the Middle East's first major "free zone" ' a place where foreign companies can operate with almost no taxes or customs and streamlined bureaucracy ' at Jebel Ali.Source: "A History of Future Cities"See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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