Eyes locked on Dubai (and Astana)

Having ended Expo 2015 in Milan in the best possible way, for the next 5 years the eyes will be locked on Dubai 2020, the next World Fair which the megalopolis in the United Arab Emirates won over Yekaterinburg (Russia), Izmir (Turkey, already defeated in the previous session by Milan) and Sao Paulo (Brazil) in November, 2 years ago. Alessandro Salvatico, the chef at restaurant Armani in Dubai, told us a few days ago about the frenzy that is already affecting the Arabian peninsula, ready to organise the largest World Fair ever.

The numbers that pre-describe the Emirates’ festival – to take place in an exhibition area halfway between Dubai and the capital Abu Dhabi, from 20th October 2020 till 10th April 2021 – clearly depict the ambition: 25 million visitors (Milan closed with 21), 70% visitors from outside the continent, a total area of 438 hectares (Milan had 110), of which 200 for the exhibition itself, with a total capacity of 300K people and a daily flow of 153K visitors (the ones that arrived daily in Rho for the past six months were 100K on average).

The Expo in Dubai will be served by 3 international airports, a futuristic transport network (including the Expo Riders, 750 zero-emission buses) and will have as its theme Connecting minds, creating the future, a headline that derives from the meaning of the Arab name of the city, al-Wasl, which means “connection”. The organisers’ intention is for the next Expo to explore «new pathways of development and innovation, oriented to update the global debate on the macro themes of sustainability, mobility, opportunity».

Food, the main theme in the edition that ended two days ago, will continue to be a crucial corollary on the axiom of “connectivity” as 80% of the 9 million inhabitants today hold a Palestinian, Iranian, Indian or in general Asian passport. They are in fact those who have built the backbone of the country with their hard work: “fusion” is a concept the UAE have developed basically from the start – the Emirates were born only in 1971. And in the next five years, we can bet on that, on top of the establishments already shouting important attractive names (Heinz Beck, who on top of Social Heinz Beck recently opened Taste of Italy, Giorgio Locatelli, Gordon Ramsey, Marco Pierre White,Yannick Alleno, Juan Amador…) ambitious restaurants with a remarkable local identity (something that is still to be codified, in fact) will bloom.

Before then, we’re all curious to discover Astana’s project. The capital of Kazakhstan is to host the International Fair (not the World one) from 10th June till 10th September 2017, a sort of “mid-term Expo” between Milan and Dubai, focused on the theme of Future energy, a topic that is to create a debate and awareness on responsible production and sustainable and renewable energy. A more contained project (the exhibition area is said to be of 25 hectares, with 100 countries involved and 7 million visitors over 3 months) but still with a large-scale effort, which will also be supported by the Milanese staff that did so well in the edition closed 2 days ago.