United Arab Emirates

The eccentric megaprojects keep coming in Dubai, leaving some to question the environmental wisdom of so much development in a notoriously water-poor desert.

Native of the bustling United Arab Emirates are cheering the global economic slowdown, crediting it for curbing development in its cities that had been blamed for destroying much of their local heritage.

With too much focus on "architectural bling" and a hyperactive development pattern, Dubai is in danger of becoming a modern planning disaster, according to architect Thom Mayne.

Dubai is increasingly attracting architects and planners as a blank slate, and it's becoming a vibrant testing ground for ideas new and extreme.

This article from The National takes a tour of Abu Dhabi with architect and planner Riyad Albuhlaiga, who points out the best parts of the city -- and the parts that must be improved to make Abu Dhabi a truly great city.

This segment from NPR looks at plans for the carbon-neutral Masdar City in Abu Dhabi.

This slideshow from Slate looks at the elaborate plans for new cities in the United Arab Emirates, and compares them to other built-from-scratch cities in history.

Plans for a 4.6 km tramway have been announced for downtown Burj Dubai -- a $136 million transit system intended to link major developments in the rapidly rising emirate.

With rising sea levels and a penchant for ambitious new building ideas, Dubai is moving forward with plans to construct floating buildings and islands.

Five prominent ecocity experts weigh in on the Masdar City project in Abu Dhabi.

In his 1.5 billion square-foot master plan for a waterfront city in Dubai, architect Rem Koolhaas has proposed a dense and elaborate city, but one that doesn't try to rely too much on flashy high-end architecture.