09/11/2013
"More than 56 million visits were made to Downtown Dubai last year. That puts the development, only five years old, in the same bracket as Times Square and the Empire State Building in New York and Paris’ Eiffel Tower.
The two-kilometre-square area, which encompasses the world’s tallest tower, the largest shopping mall, numerous luxury hotels and 30,000 residences, has easily become one of the most valuable locations per square kilometre in the world.
And now its creator, Dubai developer Emaar Properties, is taking the name ‘Downtown’ to another emerging city – Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq.
Downtown Erbil will span 541,000 square metres and include 15,000 residences, three five-star international hotels, 715,000 square metres of office space, the city’s largest shopping mall and numerous restaurants. Twin towers will dominate the skyline, while about 40 percent of the area will be greenery and water features.From http://www.arabianbusiness.com/emaar-s-city-of-future-explained-525547.html #.Un3bb6w9XlA" Important to note is that these are the same guys in the machakos city project.
The Iraqi city of Erbil is aiming to build on Dubai’s rapid march to maturity by replicating the emirate’s Downtown centrepiece. Emaar boss Mohamed Alabbar discusses whether the brand be extended to other developing cities as well
