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islands there is hardly anything built
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on them
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what happened here
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in the early 2000s real estate
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developers saw an enormous opportunity
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in creating artificial land off the
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coast of dubai the real estate boom in
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the emirate seemed unstoppable and the
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demand for ocean properties was huge
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dubai had already expanded along most of
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its coast so nikhil properties a real
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estate company owned by the government
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of dubai made plans to radically change
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the region all within just two decades
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the company planned three different
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island projects that when viewed from
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space should represent the shape of palm
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trees
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palm jumeirah
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palm jabil ali
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and lastly pandera by far the largest
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one
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in addition the world was announced
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different areas were planned from low
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density housing high density complexes
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and islands that can be used
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commercially
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in a second phase the world was planned
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to be supplemented by another even
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bigger project the universe
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man-made islands were planned that
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resembled the shape of the sun
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the moon
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as well as the planets of the solar
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system
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the milky way and a distant galaxy
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next to palm jabil ali another gigantic
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project was to be created the dubai
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waterfront these islands should be
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formed like a star and crescent an
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important symbol in islam
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and the construction project was
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advertised as the largest man-made
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development project worldwide
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the shape should also serve as a shelter
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to protect palm jabil ali from erosion
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with all of these projects most of the
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coast of dubai would have been
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transformed as on one side the emirate
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of abu dhabi begins and on the other
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side there is the emirate of sharjah
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in retrospect the level of confidence
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with which these projects were advanced
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is astonishing but the islands were seen
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as prestige projects that served the
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larger goal of developing dubai into a
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major tourist hotspot and thereby
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creating new income sources for a place
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that gained most of its wealth for the
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extraction of oil
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[Music]
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now let's take a look at what happened
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to these ambitious plans
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in 2001 nikhil property started building
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the palm jumeirah
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this project alone would double the
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length of the coastline of dubai
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in 2006 the land reclamation was
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completed and the first apartments were
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already handed over
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the strands of the palm mainly host
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private houses while a number of larger
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luxury hotels were built on the
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breakwater ring around the palm that
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protects the palm from storms
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while palm jumeirah was still under
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construction other projects started to
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take shape
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the 21st century seemed to have reached
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a new peak in the rate of growth of
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dubai the real estate market experienced
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a rapid boom and a number of prestige
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projects such as the burj khalifa the
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largest building in the world were built
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in september 2008 the atlantis hotel on
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palm jumeirah celebrated its opening
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with a fireworks show on the entire palm
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but the celebrations couldn't change
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that the international financial crisis
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started to affect dubai
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just last week dubai spent 20 million
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dollars for a party to open the atlantis
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hotel
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atlantis rising the headline was dubai
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parties as the rest of the world reels
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from the economic crisis
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perhaps not anymore dubai has been hit
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by the global financial crisis
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especially in real estate
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mega projects like the artificial island
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off the coast are in danger of collapse
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many construction sites have shut down
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due to a declining demand the price of
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plots of land fell rapidly
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and the development of palm jabil ali
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came to a stand still
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in 2011 nakhiel properties offered
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investors refunds and the project has
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been on hold ever since
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the empty sandbanks that reach 7
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kilometers or 4.3 miles into the sea
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appear strangely forgotten
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the palm is located behind the jebel
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alley port with no city development near
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it and most of the visions dreamed up by
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the project planners seemingly
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evaporated in a puff of sand
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the land reclamation of the dubai
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waterfront is nowhere near as advanced
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but you can already see the shape of
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some of the islands on satellite images
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this project as well has been
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discontinued
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a similar situation exists with palmdera
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the land reclamation had already
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progressed but it is far from complete
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in 2013 nikhil decided to try to save
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this project by rebranding it instead of
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continuing to create new land the
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project was scaled down and is now just
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called dara islands
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and there is current construction work
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underway with a planned mall two
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high-rise buildings and a shopping
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street
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finally the world
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the land creation was mostly completed
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and a large part of the islands had
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already been sold before the financial
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crisis
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but the islands were just not developed
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further as many of the investors that
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bought them were facing their own
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problems in the aftermath of the
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financial crisis
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and although investments into new
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projects in dubai increased after the
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crisis the world project couldn't
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benefit from this as there was less
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confidence on the return on any such
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investments
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ten years after the initial project
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reveal the world already seemed to no
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longer fit in the current time
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many concerns about the longevity of the
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project arose as news reports stated
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that the smaller channels between the
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islands started to sand up
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and the rising sea levels are a growing
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danger for a project like this
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in general growing concerns around land
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reclamation projects came up
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residents at palm jumeirah criticized
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their water quality
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while the breakwater is necessary to
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protect the palm from erosion it also
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hinders the natural tidal movement and
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the sea water within the palm became
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stagnant
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additionally environmental concerns got
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more attention
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piling up hundreds of thousands of tons
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of sand on a seabed that previously had
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been almost evenly flat has an impact on
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marine ecology
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the islands are composed mainly of sand
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that was dredged from dubai's shallow
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coastal waters
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and there are concerns that this leads
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to a destabilization of the coastal soil
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which could lead to an erosion of the
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natural coastline
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even if these consequences have been
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known for a long time it is becoming
00:07:37
increasingly difficult to market
00:07:38
projects that are considered
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environmentally harmful
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many of the projects promoted in recent
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years are therefore trying to
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incorporate environmental compatibility
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in addition the difficult living
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conditions of migrant construction
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workers in dubai is a topic that is
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receiving more media attention
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nevertheless there are development
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projects on these islands that are
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starting to take shape
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initially there was only one island that
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had been developed
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the villa served as a show house to
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promote the project
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in summer 2012 the royal island beach
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club opened on lebanon island
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the club hosts daytime tourists that can
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get there by boat
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the biggest project however was
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announced in 2014
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an austrian real estate investor plans
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to develop a number of projects on the
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european islands
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the project is called the heart of
00:08:41
europe and the goal is to create kind of
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a mini version of europe
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with luxurious hotels that are inspired
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by places like venice or monaco
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in addition to a number of restaurants
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with european food the investor also
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plans to build a plaza on the swiss
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island where there will be artificial
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snow
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the project is currently under
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construction and time will tell whether
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it will bring the desired economic
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success
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[Music]
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there are risky development projects
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almost everywhere in the world and
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everywhere in the world some of them
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fail
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in urban development prestige projects
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often serve a greater role than being
00:09:19
financially successful by their own as
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they can attract tourists to a region
00:09:24
and therefore support a greater local
00:09:25
economy in a variety of ways
00:09:28
in addition to attracting tourism such
00:09:30
prestige projects also often serve as
00:09:32
national pride
00:09:34
or they intend to symbolize the start of
00:09:36
a new era for example by using new
00:09:38
construction methods or by breaking
00:09:40
world records now if dubai is questioned
00:09:42
for creating planned landmarks then the
00:09:45
same criticism must certainly be applied
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elsewhere as well
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but still the question remains how these
00:09:51
projects that change the coastal
00:09:53
landscape of dubai will be viewed in
00:09:55
retrospect at a time when dubai's growth
00:09:57
slows down and when the ambitious dream
00:10:00
that this city represents stops being
00:10:02
built and just has to be lived
00:10:07
thank you so much for watching i
00:10:09
recently received a package from youtube
00:10:11
with the silver creator award and so i
00:10:13
just wanted to use that as an
00:10:15
opportunity to say thank you there are
00:10:17
many more videos in production so if you
00:10:19
enjoy this content please join in and
00:10:22
subscribe
00:10:27
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00:10:33
you
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