sisters in the sand: comparing las vegas and dubai.
for my information design class, spring 2008, i wrote a seventy-page booklet comparing las vegas and dubai. i looked not only at theming, but at climate, geography, development models and overall growth patterns. i sought to convey that the two cities are far more similar than the casual observer might first think.
although i was fresh off the plane back from dubai when i produced this piece, i had yet to conduct my research trip to las vegas; as such my observations were limited to what i had already read, and the handful of times i had informally visited before. now that i’m back from las vegas, i thought i would revisit some of this material.
in the booklet i designed diagrams to show how vegas has grown over the years.
i also developed a thematic blueprint of the current strip, detailing all the major resorts.
here is a statistical breakdown of the 1990s vegas building boom, comparing dubai’s extraordinary growth during the same period—one of the many such charts in the booklet.
one of the more challenging aspects of the project was illustrating a series of maps to show dubai in 1990, 2007, and its projected state in 2015. i based them on materials obtained in dubai, as well as archived satellite photos.
here are some excerpts from the text, or you can download the entire booklet [PDF].
it all began with the sand.
the most remarkable feature of the desert, from a development standpoint, is not the lack of water, nor the scorching heat, nor the difficulty in raising crops and animals. it’s the emptiness. deserts are the stuff of dreams (or more often, mirages) because they represent a blank slate. for those that wish to build proverbial castles in the sand, there is an awful lot to work with. when i began asking people casually about las vegas and dubai, the general assumption was that any similarity between the two was superficial at best. sure, they’re both hot. they’re home to megaresorts and ridiculous amounts of money being both earned and spent. everyone speaks broken english, to some degree. and as a visitor, you’re surrounded by fantasy.
vegas themes because she wants you to forget; dubai is desperate for you to remember her.
both dubai and las vegas before it are global capitals of thematic design. arguably the first themed casino on the las vegas strip was the el rancho, designed by wayne mcallister, which opened in 1941. early theming in las vegas drew upon the romance of the old west and mexicana, but as the town grew and changed, so did the design approach. in the 1950s, hotel casinos referencing the desert and “arabian fantasies” became more popular, but the largest step forward in the evolution of the megaresort was caesar’s palace (1966). for the first time, architecture was combined with costume, interiors with food, and sights with smell is to create a truly holistic experience.
the 1990s brought the “disneyization” of the strip, as casino owners sought to attract the kind of mass family audience that would typically vacation in orlando with mickey instead. resorts such as treasure island (pirates) and excalibur (medieval arthurian fantasy) emphasized children’s entertainment along with the slots and dad’s craps tables. the building boom brought more and more elaborate recreations, such as the exquisite venetian (1999), but now theming—as it as been traditionally practiced—is in something of decline on the strip.
las vegas is once again returning to its roots as “sin city” and playing up the image of a hard-drinking, hard-gambling, sexy-as-hell vacation destination for adults only. treasure island is now the TI, and features more tramps in g-strings than swashbucklers with eye patches. vegas is also cashing in on its own classic mythology—the era of the rat pack, the black suit and the dry martini—and is consciously theming and branding both hotels and residential complexes as swinging bachelor pads.
the larger themed resorts on the strip are sure to stay, but the future expansion of thematic design in las vegas remains uncertain. this is hardly the case in dubai, however, where theming is just beginning to spread its wings, and beautifully. whereas las vegas seeks to take people away to never-never land with its designs, dubai very deliberately is trying to remind visitors where they are. there is a certain insecurity to this practice—where the newest luxury resorts are all styled to resemble the older part of the city razed at mid-century—so too, perhaps, a kind of guilt.
dubai is eager to provide the future for the gulf states of the region, but to do so it must have a past. instead of english castles or spanish galleons, theming provides the suggestion (and deception) that dubai has a rich past as a center of trade, arabic culture, and above all, islam. mecca or damascus, certainly. even riyadh. but dubai? hardly.
some conclusions.
i started this project with the premise that by comparing what’s happened to las vegas over the last century to dubai in the present tense, we might better chart dubai’s future. instead, my research tended to suggest the opposite—that it is las vegas who can learn from dubai.
las vegas and dubai are not only sisters; they’re members of the global workforce. las vegas is the gal that’s been at the firm for god knows how long. she’s a bit rougher around the edges, knows how to work just hard enough not to get fired, has the best water cooler gossip, and knows where all the bodies are buried. she’s a bit insecure about her age, las vegas has a proven track record, but dubai is better prepared for the growth of the future. and slaps on a little too much makeup to cover for it. she’s constantly reevaluating her look to the delight of her co-workers, but still, they know it’s just an act put on for their amusement.
dubai on the other hand, is just coming to apply, and she’s at the interview. it’s a big position she’s applying for—entertainment and commercial center of the entire middle east. understandably, she’s a bit nervous. of course, one rarely lies outright when applying for a job—but, invariably, the resume is puffed up, the very best outfit is worn; the warmest smile, the firmest handshake. and that is exactly how dubai presents herself. herself-conscious theming of the past is like adding flourish to previous job titles, inventing qualifications. if honest, she would have to sheepishly glance down at the floor, and admit that despite the glitz, the glamour, and yes, all this money, she was the kid in school least likely to succeed. a trust fund baby, always hiding behind the confident shadow of her older and more responsible brother, abu dhabi. not a center of islam, not an influential trade nexus, but instead a backwater bedouin settlement on the creek, home to pearl divers and small-time merchants. and like her, we prefer the embellishment.