Plans have been revealed for the Expo City Dubai which will open this October on the same site where the six-month long Expo 2020 Dubai took place between October 2021-March 2022.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said on Monday that the new city will open on October 1.
Expo City Dubai – the legacy plan of Expo 2020 Dubai and part of the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan – aims to create an environmentally-friendly, tech-enabled futuristic city.
It will feature a number of Expo 2020’s flagship pavilions. Visitors will be able to explore the falcon-inspired UAE pavilion as well as that of Saudi Arabia.
Details of several other country pavilions – including reworked versions of Luxembourg, Australia, Pakistan, India, Morocco and Egypt – will be announced in the coming months, according to state news agency WAM.
Also later this year, the Opportunity Pavilion will become the Expo 2020 Dubai Museum – a new addition highlighting the history and impact of World Expos.
Other attractions that are set to return include the Woman’s Pavilion, which features female change-makers across the world, and the Vision Pavilion, honouring the vision of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid.
Three of Expo 2020’s most visited attractions –the Al Wasl Plaza, the Garden in the Sky observation tower and the Surreal water feature, will also be a part of the new Expo City Dubai.
Alif, the Mobility Pavilion and Terra, the Sustainability Pavilion, will also return as as interactive educational experiences.
Expo City Dubai will feature offices, leisure facilities, food and entertainment venues, sports facilities and a mall too.
Its Dubai Exhibition Centre (DEC) will continue to host summits, conferences and concerts.
Expo City Dubai will be free of single-use plastic and retain 80 per cent of its infrastructure and buildings that have been constructed, including 123 LEED-certified buildings. The city is already attracting interest from a large number of commercial tenants and will soon become the new headquarters of DP World, Siemens, as well as startups and SMEs.
“After the historical success of Expo 2020 Dubai, which was visited by more than 24 million visitors, and which left an indelible mark in the 170-year history of World Expos, today we announce the transformation of the exhibition site into Expo City Dubai. This new city will be home to an extraordinary new museum, a world-class exhibition centre, and the headquarters of cutting edge and fast-growing companies,” said Sheikh Mohammed.
