In Dubai, a Little Lyon in the Desert?

Travel Blog  •  Joanna Kakissis  •  01.29.08 | 7:07 AM ET

imagePhoto by Raphael Quinet via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Ah, what love (and oil money) can do. They’re fueling the so-called “Lyon-Dubai City” project, which aims to create a mini version of France’s third-largest city in the desert of the United Arab Emirates.

The Central Park-sized Little Lyon is the baby of Dubai entrepreneur Buti Saeed al-Ghandi, who has hired a team to plan for a university, small versions of Lyon’s main museums, homes, offices, cafes, hotels, restaurants and perhaps even a church, writes Elaine Sciolino in The New York Times. The planners are even studying ways to cool the outdoor areas in mini-Lyon so people don’t pass out during dust storms and 105-degree heat.

Mr. Ghandi, who says the real Lyon’s magic helped him reignite his love for his wife on a trip there last year, is dreaming big on this project and his team insists the result won’t be Vegas or Disneyland gauche.

Tags: Europe, France, Middle East, United Arab Emirates, Dubai

Joanna Kakissis's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post, among other publications. A contributor to the World Hum blog, she's currently a Ted Scripps fellow in environmental journalism at the University of Colorado in Boulder.


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