Signature Case Dubai

This chapter provides a detailed case study analysis of the Emirate of Dubai, the fast-growing global hub of the Middle East. In other chapters, other case studies will be presented, but throughout the book Dubai will repeatedly receive attention. That is why we have called it our ‘signature case’. This first chapter on our signature case Dubai will therefore discuss the context of Dubai in depth, after which we shall present our empirical studies of the projected image of Dubai in Chapter 9, and the perceived image in Chapter 13. Of interest in these chapters is the extent to which global facts take a local form. In this sense, we would encourage the reader not to interpret the signature case as being about the specific context of Dubai alone. Rather, it is about a typical example of a rapidly developing region or city-state, riding the waves of globalization, having firmly established itself, in less than fifteen years, as an important node in the network of global flows. It is not just the case study of Dubai that is of central interest, but also the results of the phenomenographical analysis of the way in which this newly established hub is projecting itself and being imagined by an international audience, and the way in which these results have been obtained. The following case study description provides an assessment of the sense of place, and facilitates a comparison of the empirical content analysis and survey results, as presented in later chapters, with the actual product offering and local identity.

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