Dubai is known for its maximalist tastes, and World Expo 2020 will be no different. The event will have a 438-hectare footprint when it lands -- one of the largest sites ever -- transforming the south west of the emirate. Since winning the bid in 2013, the huge construction project has created jobs and infrastructure, but what will be the legacy of the six-month bonanza? <br /><br />Previous expo hosts, along with the Olympic cities -- the only other event that can compare in scale -- offer valuable lessons for Dubai. So what are the do-s and don't-s of hosting the world's biggest parties?
Dubai is known for its maximalist tastes, and World Expo 2020 will be no different. The event will have a 438-hectare footprint when it lands -- one of the largest sites ever -- transforming the south west of the emirate. Since winning the bid in 2013, the huge construction project has created jobs and infrastructure, but what will be the legacy of the six-month bonanza?

Previous expo hosts, along with the Olympic cities -- the only other event that can compare in scale -- offer valuable lessons for Dubai. So what are the do-s and don't-s of hosting the world's biggest parties?
Expo 2020
Where the expo craze all began. Held in the Crystal Palace, a custom-built glass confection <a href="index.php?page=&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.britannica.com%2Ftopic%2FCrystal-Palace-building-London" target="_blank" target="_blank">1,848 feet long and 408 feet wide</a>, the unprecedented event hosted technological innovation and cultural curiosities from around the world. Exhibits included the Koh-i-Noor diamond and the Americas Cup. The exhibition, overseen by Prince Albert, was wildly successful, turning a profit from over six million visitors including Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte and Lewis Carroll. <br /><br /><strong>Legacy:</strong> Three years after the exhibition closed, the palace was relocated from Hyde Park to Sydenham Hill in Southeast London. It passed between hands until 1936 when the structure was <a href="index.php?page=&url=https%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fd%2Fd3%2FCrystal_Palace_Destoyed_1936.jpg" target="_blank" target="_blank">consumed by fire</a>. Its central legacy is the tradition of global expos, while the Crystal Palace gave its name to the area surrounding its second home. It also introduced to the world the modern public lavatory.
The Great Exhibition, London, 1851 —
Where the expo craze all began. Held in the Crystal Palace, a custom-built glass confection 1,848 feet long and 408 feet wide, the unprecedented event hosted technological innovation and cultural curiosities from around the world. Exhibits included the Koh-i-Noor diamond and the Americas Cup. The exhibition, overseen by Prince Albert, was wildly successful, turning a profit from over six million visitors including Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte and Lewis Carroll.

Legacy: Three years after the exhibition closed, the palace was relocated from Hyde Park to Sydenham Hill in Southeast London. It passed between hands until 1936 when the structure was consumed by fire. Its central legacy is the tradition of global expos, while the Crystal Palace gave its name to the area surrounding its second home. It also introduced to the world the modern public lavatory.
Hulton Archive/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The third world fair hosted by the French capital, the 75-hectare site contained Alexander Graham Bell's telephone, Thomas Edison's megaphone and the colossal head of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi's not-yet-completed Statue of Liberty. Held in an era of rampant colonialism, there was an ugly side too: the fair included a <a href="index.php?page=&url=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.co.uk%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DLjoqDwAAQBAJ%26pg%3DPA57%26lpg%3DPA57%26dq%3Dparis%2Bworld%2Bexpo%2Bhuman%2Bzoo%2B1878%26source%3Dbl%26ots%3Dpwh7NNt4My%26sig%3DqfgDRkrlyZEtM8YXWsH7TgtlPCE%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26ved%3D0ahUKEwj2hM7ru5PWAhUCmbQKHYGxAPoQ6AEIZzAM%23v%3Donepage%26q%3Dparis%2520world%2520expo%2520human%2520zoo%25201878%26f%3Dfalse" target="_blank" target="_blank">human zoo</a> containing people indigenous to Tahiti, Senegal and Indochina.<br /><br /><strong>Legacy:</strong> Buildings constructed for the expo were sold to the city, although some are no longer standing. However the most visible symbol from the event lies across the Atlantic, waiting to welcome the huddled masses to New York.<br />
Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1878 —
The third world fair hosted by the French capital, the 75-hectare site contained Alexander Graham Bell's telephone, Thomas Edison's megaphone and the colossal head of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi's not-yet-completed Statue of Liberty. Held in an era of rampant colonialism, there was an ugly side too: the fair included a human zoo containing people indigenous to Tahiti, Senegal and Indochina.

Legacy: Buildings constructed for the expo were sold to the city, although some are no longer standing. However the most visible symbol from the event lies across the Atlantic, waiting to welcome the huddled masses to New York.
Public Domain
Aligning with the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, 1889's world fair claimed to have had 32 million visitors and over 60,000 exhibitors. Artists including Gauguin and Munch visited, along with Nikola Tesla, and Heineken won the Grand Prize (yes, the beer brewer). It also bequeathed to the city its most famous landmark, the Eiffel Tower. The design was <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.toureiffel.paris%2Fen%2Feverything-about-the-tower%2F71" target="_blank" target="_blank">initially much-maligned</a>, but the city warmed to it upon completion. Visitors had to climb stairs up to the second viewing platform, while the top was reserved for construction personnel only.<br /><br /><strong>Legacy: </strong>The 1,063-feet tower has well outliving its intended 20-year lifespan -- in part due to the radio and telecoms experiments it went on to host. Trains used on a gauge railway around the expo were used on subsequent lines, and an elaborate Pierre Henri Picq-designed building was transported over 4,000 miles to Fort-de-France, Martinique, where it saw a new lease of life as the <a href="index.php?page=&url=https%3A%2F%2Ffr.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FBiblioth%25C3%25A8que_Sch%25C5%2593lcher" target="_blank" target="_blank">Schoelcher Library</a>. <br />
World Fair, Paris, 1889 —
Aligning with the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, 1889's world fair claimed to have had 32 million visitors and over 60,000 exhibitors. Artists including Gauguin and Munch visited, along with Nikola Tesla, and Heineken won the Grand Prize (yes, the beer brewer). It also bequeathed to the city its most famous landmark, the Eiffel Tower. The design was initially much-maligned, but the city warmed to it upon completion. Visitors had to climb stairs up to the second viewing platform, while the top was reserved for construction personnel only.

Legacy: The 1,063-feet tower has well outliving its intended 20-year lifespan -- in part due to the radio and telecoms experiments it went on to host. Trains used on a gauge railway around the expo were used on subsequent lines, and an elaborate Pierre Henri Picq-designed building was transported over 4,000 miles to Fort-de-France, Martinique, where it saw a new lease of life as the Schoelcher Library.
AFP/Getty Images
The first major expo after World War II and the last to be held in Belgium to date, Expo 58 embraced the atomic age with its 335 feet sculpture-come exhibition center, the Atomium. Modeled after an iron crystal but <a href="index.php?page=&url=https%3A%2F%2Fvisit.brussels%2Fen%2Fplace%2FAtomium" target="_blank" target="_blank">165 billion times the size</a>, it was, however, made from an iron alloy, stainless steel. The spheres, representing iron atoms, were mostly accessible, and the top contained a panoramic restaurant.<br /><br /><strong>Legacy:</strong> Undoubtedly one of <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedition.cnn.com%2Ftravel%2Farticle%2Feurope-bizarre-buildings%2Findex.html">Europe's oddest buildings</a>, the Atomium still stands.<br />
Expo 58, Brussels, 1958 —
The first major expo after World War II and the last to be held in Belgium to date, Expo 58 embraced the atomic age with its 335 feet sculpture-come exhibition center, the Atomium. Modeled after an iron crystal but 165 billion times the size, it was, however, made from an iron alloy, stainless steel. The spheres, representing iron atoms, were mostly accessible, and the top contained a panoramic restaurant.

Legacy: Undoubtedly one of Europe's oddest buildings, the Atomium still stands.
www.atomium.be / Alexandre Laurent
Justin Trudeau's father Pierre was Canadian Prime Minister for the Games, which saw a raft of world records broken and the rivalry between the old Eastern Bloc and the West intensify. Princess Anne, daughter of the Queen of England, competed in equestrian, the US dominated boxing, and Romanian Nadia Comaneci became the first Olympic gymnast to score a perfect 10 on her way to three gold medals.<br /> <br /><strong>Legacy: </strong>The Games are most remembered for the colossal financial burden saddled on Montreal for three decades. Costs overran by 720%, costing <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedition.cnn.com%2F2012%2F07%2F19%2Fworld%2Fcanada-montreal-olympic-legacy%2Findex.html" target="_blank">$1.48 billion</a>, according to reports, the highest ever for an Olympic Games -- and that figure didn't even include the extensive infrastructure developments required to ready the city for the event. Only in 2006 was the balance for the athletics stadium -- dubbed "The Big Owe" -- paid in full.
Montreal Olympic Games, 1976 —
Justin Trudeau's father Pierre was Canadian Prime Minister for the Games, which saw a raft of world records broken and the rivalry between the old Eastern Bloc and the West intensify. Princess Anne, daughter of the Queen of England, competed in equestrian, the US dominated boxing, and Romanian Nadia Comaneci became the first Olympic gymnast to score a perfect 10 on her way to three gold medals.

Legacy: The Games are most remembered for the colossal financial burden saddled on Montreal for three decades. Costs overran by 720%, costing $1.48 billion, according to reports, the highest ever for an Olympic Games -- and that figure didn't even include the extensive infrastructure developments required to ready the city for the event. Only in 2006 was the balance for the athletics stadium -- dubbed "The Big Owe" -- paid in full.
Tony Duffy/Getty
A century after the state's first world fair, Louisiana's $350 million "Class B" expo had a fresh water theme and the Space Shuttle Enterprise parked among its exhibits. But a lack of major attractions stymied the event and not enough people visited to recoup costs. The government had to step in so the expo could limp to the end of its sixth-month run.<br /> <br /><strong>Legacy:</strong> The only world expo to declare bankruptcy. "For the first time, New Orleans threw a a party and nobody came," <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F1984%2F11%2F12%2Fus%2Ffailed-fair-gives-new-orleans-a-painful-hangover.html%3Fmcubz%3D1" target="_blank" target="_blank">opined local news</a>. <br />
Louisiana World Expo, 1984 —
A century after the state's first world fair, Louisiana's $350 million "Class B" expo had a fresh water theme and the Space Shuttle Enterprise parked among its exhibits. But a lack of major attractions stymied the event and not enough people visited to recoup costs. The government had to step in so the expo could limp to the end of its sixth-month run.

Legacy: The only world expo to declare bankruptcy. "For the first time, New Orleans threw a a party and nobody came," opined local news.
Bettmann/Bettmann/Bettmann Archive
For all its majesty, the Catalan city was in bad need of a makeover when it made a winning bid for the 25th Olympiad. The Games provided the required stimulus, and by the time 1992 came, a flood of visitors watched Briton Linford Christie win the 100 meters in one of many world-class facilities now dotted throughout the city.<br /> <br /><strong>Legacy:</strong> Barcelona took a considered approach to what is so often a bloated affair, cleaning up its beaches and introducing more green space to the city. The Games, as seen on TV, burnished Barcelona's reputation around the world, and the city made a rapid ascent up tourists' "must visit" lists. Its legacy can be found in the many venues still in use by the city's sports-crazy inhabitants, and subsequent Olympiads, <a href="index.php?page=&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.standard.co.uk%2Fnews%2Flessons-of-barcelona-1992-games-provided-model-for-london-and-few-warnings-6382929.html" target="_blank" target="_blank">particularly London 2012</a>, have sought to replicate its blueprint. <br />
Barcelona Olympic Games, 1992 —
For all its majesty, the Catalan city was in bad need of a makeover when it made a winning bid for the 25th Olympiad. The Games provided the required stimulus, and by the time 1992 came, a flood of visitors watched Briton Linford Christie win the 100 meters in one of many world-class facilities now dotted throughout the city.

Legacy: Barcelona took a considered approach to what is so often a bloated affair, cleaning up its beaches and introducing more green space to the city. The Games, as seen on TV, burnished Barcelona's reputation around the world, and the city made a rapid ascent up tourists' "must visit" lists. Its legacy can be found in the many venues still in use by the city's sports-crazy inhabitants, and subsequent Olympiads, particularly London 2012, have sought to replicate its blueprint.
Getty Images/Getty Images Sport Classic/Getty Images
The Olympics returned home in 2004, and the city made use of its ancient sites, including the Panathenaic Stadium -- nearly 2,000 years old and made of marble. But despite the homecoming, only <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedition.cnn.com%2F2016%2F08%2F17%2Fsport%2Frio-olympics-empty-venue-seats%2Findex.html">67%</a> of tickets were sold and Greece languished at 15th in the final medal table.<br /><br /><strong>Legacy:</strong> As with any Games, Athens had to accommodate a number of sports which lacked a large following in Greece. The country's fatal flaw was to give these sports a permanent home. The softball stadium (above) is one of many venues lying unused around Athens. They have played an unlikely role in the Eastern Mediterranean migrant crisis however: the softball outfield became a tented refugee village in 2016, while as many as <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedition.cnn.com%2F2016%2F03%2F09%2Feurope%2Fgreece-refugees-olympic-park-airport%2Findex.html">3,000 people</a> used the hockey stadium as a temporary home at one point.
Athens Olympic Games, 2004 —
The Olympics returned home in 2004, and the city made use of its ancient sites, including the Panathenaic Stadium -- nearly 2,000 years old and made of marble. But despite the homecoming, only 67% of tickets were sold and Greece languished at 15th in the final medal table.

Legacy: As with any Games, Athens had to accommodate a number of sports which lacked a large following in Greece. The country's fatal flaw was to give these sports a permanent home. The softball stadium (above) is one of many venues lying unused around Athens. They have played an unlikely role in the Eastern Mediterranean migrant crisis however: the softball outfield became a tented refugee village in 2016, while as many as 3,000 people used the hockey stadium as a temporary home at one point.
Milos Bicanski/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images
China's first international expo had a budget of $4.2 billion according to the government. But the real economic injection was close to $60 billion, <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedition.cnn.com%2F2010%2FWORLD%2Fasiapcf%2F04%2F30%2Fchina.shanghai.world.expo%2Findex.html">it was reported at the time</a>. The event set a new bar for the modern expo, with eye-watering amounts spent on national pavilions. The giant soft power exercise attracted top architectural talent including Norman Foster and Bjark Ingels, and Thomas Heatherwick's "Seed Cathedral" won Best Pavilion for the UK.<br /> <br /><strong>Legacy: </strong>Seventy two million visitors, mostly from China, walked a site twice the size of Monaco -- but <a href="index.php?page=&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amnesty.org%2Fen%2Flatest%2Fnews%2F2010%2F04%2Fchina-silences-women-housing-rights-activists-ahead-expo-2010%2F" target="_blank" target="_blank">according to Amnesty International</a>, some 18,000 households were displaced to make room for the expo. Some of that land is now a public park, while a <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bie-paris.org%2Fsite%2Fen%2Fworld-expo-museum" target="_blank" target="_blank">first-of-its-kind expo museum</a> opened in May 2017.
Expo 2010, Shanghai —
China's first international expo had a budget of $4.2 billion according to the government. But the real economic injection was close to $60 billion, it was reported at the time. The event set a new bar for the modern expo, with eye-watering amounts spent on national pavilions. The giant soft power exercise attracted top architectural talent including Norman Foster and Bjark Ingels, and Thomas Heatherwick's "Seed Cathedral" won Best Pavilion for the UK.

Legacy: Seventy two million visitors, mostly from China, walked a site twice the size of Monaco -- but according to Amnesty International, some 18,000 households were displaced to make room for the expo. Some of that land is now a public park, while a first-of-its-kind expo museum opened in May 2017.
PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
The sporting success of London's third Games was left in little doubt by the time the Olympic torch was extinguished. (It didn't hurt that the hosts set a new best in the medal table, either). Part of the reason London won its bid for the Games was its plan to revitalize dilapidated sites in the city's East End. Contaminated industrial fields made way for shiny apartments and sports facilities, and new infrastructure, hospitality and commercial sites popped up in between. <br /><br /><strong>Legacy:</strong> Local schools make regular use of sites including the Zaha Hadid-designed aquatics center, and the athletics stadium -- which hosted the 2017 world championships, as well as Rugby World Cup fixtures -- is now home to West Ham United Football Club. Many new apartment complexes have helped the capital's housing shortfall, but affordable housing targets have been downgraded, while prices have soared in what it still<a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedition.cnn.com%2F2016%2F08%2F15%2Fworld%2Folympic-legacy%2Findex.html" target="_blank"> one of London's poorest boroughs</a>. For local residents, the price of all that gold has been high.
London Olympic Games, 2012 —
The sporting success of London's third Games was left in little doubt by the time the Olympic torch was extinguished. (It didn't hurt that the hosts set a new best in the medal table, either). Part of the reason London won its bid for the Games was its plan to revitalize dilapidated sites in the city's East End. Contaminated industrial fields made way for shiny apartments and sports facilities, and new infrastructure, hospitality and commercial sites popped up in between.

Legacy: Local schools make regular use of sites including the Zaha Hadid-designed aquatics center, and the athletics stadium -- which hosted the 2017 world championships, as well as Rugby World Cup fixtures -- is now home to West Ham United Football Club. Many new apartment complexes have helped the capital's housing shortfall, but affordable housing targets have been downgraded, while prices have soared in what it still one of London's poorest boroughs. For local residents, the price of all that gold has been high.
Jamie Squire/Getty Images North America/Getty Images
South America's first Olympics saw Russia take an enforced back seat, and Great Britain stepped up to second in the medal table. Golf had a well-received return and Bolt bowed out with the <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedition.cnn.com%2F2016%2F08%2F19%2Fsport%2Fusain-bolt-jamaica-mens-4x100m-relay-olympics-rio%2Findex.html">triple treble</a>. Meanwhile, <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedition.cnn.com%2F2016%2F08%2F16%2Fsport%2Fsimone-biles-gold-floor%2Findex.html" target="_blank">a young American gymnast </a>left an indelible mark on the Games.<br /><br /><strong>Legacy:</strong> A feast on the eyeballs Rio may have been, but like Athens 12 years earlier, not that many people saw the spectacle. A serious empty seat problem and <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedition.cnn.com%2F2016%2F04%2F27%2Fsport%2Folympics-rio-2016-countdown-100-days-to-go%2Findex.html" target="_blank">ongoing political turmoil</a> put a damper on the Games for some, while its legacy has been seriously compromised by<a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmoney.cnn.com%2F2017%2F03%2F07%2Fnews%2Feconomy%2Fbrazil-gdp-2016%2Findex.html"> Brazil's economic downturn</a>. The glorious Maracana Stadium became<a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedition.cnn.com%2F2017%2F02%2F01%2Ffootball%2Fmaracana-stadium-rio-2016-olympics%2Findex.html"> mired in legal battles</a>, leaving the pitch dead, the power cut and gates closed. Reports of a break-in and the theft of memorabilia added insult to injury. Just months after the Games closed, <a href="index.php?page=&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2Fgallery%2F2017%2Ffeb%2F10%2Frios-olympic-venues-six-months-on-in-pictures" target="_blank" target="_blank">many other venues were also in disrepair</a>. The Maracana has since reopened after local soccer club Flamengo reportedly <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.espn.co.uk%2Ffootball%2Fbrazil%2Fstory%2F3078441%2Fbrazils-maracana-stadium-reopens-but-doubts-on-future-remain" target="_blank" target="_blank">footed $1 million in bills</a> (and were rewarded in March 2017 with a 4-0 win in their first game). <br />
Rio Olympic Games, 2016 —
South America's first Olympics saw Russia take an enforced back seat, and Great Britain stepped up to second in the medal table. Golf had a well-received return and Bolt bowed out with the triple treble. Meanwhile, a young American gymnast left an indelible mark on the Games.

Legacy: A feast on the eyeballs Rio may have been, but like Athens 12 years earlier, not that many people saw the spectacle. A serious empty seat problem and ongoing political turmoil put a damper on the Games for some, while its legacy has been seriously compromised by Brazil's economic downturn. The glorious Maracana Stadium became mired in legal battles, leaving the pitch dead, the power cut and gates closed. Reports of a break-in and the theft of memorabilia added insult to injury. Just months after the Games closed, many other venues were also in disrepair. The Maracana has since reopened after local soccer club Flamengo reportedly footed $1 million in bills (and were rewarded in March 2017 with a 4-0 win in their first game).
VANDERLEI ALMEIDA/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Hosting a global event: The good, the bad and the bankrupt
CNN  — 

So you’ve hosted a world expo. Congratulations. Now what? Planning for the party is one thing, but a tougher job awaits once the guests have left.

World expositions are some of the greatest events on earth. They showcase the best of mankind’s ingenuity, debut innovations, and with national pavilions, give each country a chance to showcase their culture.

Cementing the legacy of a world expo is a tricky feat, however. Get it wrong and a city can wake up despondent, with an empty wallet and a few architectural regrets.

marsa al arab render 1
Dubai Media Office

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Get it right, however, and you can help justify the huge expenditure of your expo, galvanize communities, and show the world your forward-thinking image wasn’t just a passing fad.

In short, the stakes are high.

Expo 2020 Dubai – running from October 2020 to April 2021 – is conscious of the fact, and this week released details of its legacy plan at real estate industry event Cityscape Global 2017.

Dubbed “District 2020,” the area which the expo occupies in Dubai South will undergo extensive redevelopments before reopening in October 2021 – not long after the expo closes in April that year.

The Foster + Partners designed Mobility Pavilion for Dubai Expo 2020.
The Foster + Partners designed Mobility Pavilion for Dubai Expo 2020.
Expo 2020

Some buildings will remain unchanged, including the Santiago Calatrava-designed UAE National Pavilion, modeled on the wings of a falcon. Others will be transformed on the inside: The Sustainability Pavilion, for instance, will live on as a center for child and scientific education. The Dubai World Trade Center Conference and Exhibition Center will also remain once the expo closes.

The UAE Pavilion for Dubai 2020, designed by Santiago Calatrava and inspired by the wings of a falcon.
The UAE Pavilion for Dubai 2020, designed by Santiago Calatrava and inspired by the wings of a falcon.
Expo 2020
Grimshaw Architects designed Sustainability Pavilion for Dubai Expo 2020.
Grimshaw Architects designed Sustainability Pavilion for Dubai Expo 2020.
Expo 2020

The upcoming District 2020 is touting itself as a ready-built community rather than just a business hub. It will have 700,000 square feet of residential space, education facilities and parkland equivalent to six soccer pitches. The Al Wasl Plaza, which acts as the nexus of the expo site, will remain, and contain a lush garden within its dome.

The Al Wasl Plaza lit up at night. The space at the heart of the expo site is set to live beyond the six-month event as the central hub of a new district in Dubai South.
The Al Wasl Plaza lit up at night. The space at the heart of the expo site is set to live beyond the six-month event as the central hub of a new district in Dubai South.
Expo 2020
The Tower will be the heart of Dubai Creek Harbour, one of the largest tourist and lifestyle developments in the world stretching across 2.3 square miles (6 sqkm).
The Tower will be the heart of Dubai Creek Harbour, one of the largest tourist and lifestyle developments in the world stretching across 2.3 square miles (6 sqkm).
Emaar Properties

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Looking to live up to Dubai’s “smart city” moniker, the development will have one of the world’s first 5G mobile networks. It’s also targeting companies working in tech and innovation to occupy some of the 1.5 million square feet of commercial space allocated to the site, with buildings rising to 13 floors. Siemens has already agreed to build a new logistics hub in District 2020 according to local news, as well as consultancy firm Accenture.

Apartments planned for the upcoming District 2020.
Apartments planned for the upcoming District 2020.
Expo 2020

Located one metro stop away from Al Maktoum International Airport, District 2020 will also function as a new Free Trade Zone, allowing businesses to operate tax-exempt and entirely foreign-owned.

Over 80% of the 200 hectare site will be retained according to documents released as part of the announcement, and planners hope District 2020 will more than double in size to become a city in its own right.

Inside the Al Wasl Plaza. The legacy team plan to transform the large dome into a park area when the expo is over.
Inside the Al Wasl Plaza. The legacy team plan to transform the large dome into a park area when the expo is over.
Expo 2020
the sustainable city dubai 3
courtesy The Sustainable City

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“District 2020 will continue to carry forward Expo 2020’s mission of connecting people,” says Marjan Faraidooni, an official specializing in Expo 2020 legacy.

The Expo 2020 legacy plan includes among its permanent structures (clockwise from left): the Mobility Pavilion, the Al Wasl Plaza, the UAE Pavilion and the Children and Science Center (previously the Sustainability Pavilion).
The Expo 2020 legacy plan includes among its permanent structures (clockwise from left): the Mobility Pavilion, the Al Wasl Plaza, the UAE Pavilion and the Children and Science Center (previously the Sustainability Pavilion).
Expo 2020

“It has been a key part of our planning from the very start, not just for our legacy team but the entire expo organization,” adds HE Reem Al Hashimy, UAE minister of state for international cooperation and director of the Dubai Expo 2020 bureau.

The minister describes the venture as “a new alternative for urban living.” With Expo 2020’s theme “connecting minds, creating the future,” it appears District 2020 is striving to practice what the expo preaches.