Expo City Dubai: Future of Expo 2020 site finally unveiled

The Expo 2020 exhibition site is going to be turned into an environmentally-friendly, tech-enabled city of the future “that represents the most beautiful ambitions of Dubai… in which the magic of Expo will live on”.

What’s more, it will be home to the new headquarters of DP World, an Emirati multinational logistics company, and Siemens along with several startups and SMEs.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the UAE, said Expo City Dubai, which will be ready in October, is a futuristic destination for business and innovation, driven by sustainability, innovation, education and entertainment.

“After the historical success of Expo 2020 Dubai, which was visited by more than 24 million visitors, and which left an indelible mark in the 170-year history of World Expositions, today we announce the transformation of the exhibition site into Expo City Dubai,” he added.

Some things will remain, including the falcon-inspired UAE pavilion and a reworked versions of some other pavilions, including the hugely successful Pakistan offering, along with those of Luxembourg, Australia, India, Morocco and Egypt. Details on these will be announced in coming months.

The new city is being touted as an environmentally-friendly one that welcomes families, will support the economy and connected by a port and two airports.

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Expo City Dubai – made up by the legacy plan of Expo 2020 Dubai and part of the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan – builds on the momentum of the six-month World Expo.

Executives who worked on the project had earlier said “it was important to think of the future of the site right from the get-go and not as an after-thought,” and that “from day one when we designed the master plan for the event site, the legacy consideration of the entire site and its individual elements was paramount and as important as the event usage, or even more important”.

The city will feature offices, leisure facilities, food and entertainment venues, sports facilities and a mall.

It will be reachable by the Dubai Metro and will also house the Dubai Exhibition Centre, which hosted a range of global summits, conferences and concerts during Expo 2020 Dubai.

Three of Expo 2020’s most visited attractions, the iconic Al Wasl Plaza, the Garden in the Sky observation tower and the Surreal water feature, will remain.

Meanwhile, the Mobility Pavilion and the Sustainability Pavilion, will live on as interactive educational experiences.

Other attractions set to stay include the Woman’s Pavilion, which features female change-makers across the world.

Expo City Dubai will be free of single-use plastic and retain 80% of infrastructure and buildings that have been constructed, including 123 LEED-certified buildings. It will also be the first WELL-certified community in the region, demonstrating the built environment’s positive impact on health and wellness.

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