Expo City Dubai is a future-centric, sustainable mini-city building on the legacy of Expo 2020 Dubai. It encompasses many of the Expo’s flagship entertainment offerings, including Al Wasl Plaza, the Garden in the Sky observation tower, and the spectacular Surreal water feature.
Two of the main thematic pavilions, Alif, the Mobility Pavilion and Terra, the Sustainability Pavilion, have also been transformed into interactive educational experiences addressing global topics.
Marjan Faraidooni is chief of education and culture at Expo City Dubai. She speaks to blooloop about Expo City, outlining the projects that will serve as a legacy of Dubai’s World Expo and its vision into the future.
Introducing Expo City Dubai
“We hosted the World Expo from 1 October 21 up until 31 March 22,” she explains. “Part of the legacy plan for the hosting of the mega event was to continue it as a city.
“Today, it’s a place where we continue to have some of our key attractions, such as the Terra Pavilion, the Alif Pavilion, the Women’s Pavilion, and the Vision Pavilion. We have our playgrounds, and we also have the key area called Al Wasl, where we continue to hold events. We are hosting COP28 in November. The places where we had a lot of the countries’ pavilions are now being transformed into office space.”
The first companies will be moving into their spaces in the summer:
“Last week, we launched real estate development projects in the plots where some of the countries had their pavilions.
“It’s very visitor-centric. Visitors can come to our museums, and they can also come and be part of the events that we have on-site. Since the Expo, we have had a Winter City during Christmas time and we hosted the FIFA World Cup event on our site. We have had cycling and running events and we’re currently celebrating the month of Ramadan on-site. People visit, and we continue to welcome students to our educational programs.
“All this is happening as we’re shifting into becoming a city that will soon have companies as a part of it, in addition to residents.”
Planning was key
Planning has, she says, been key from the start:
“It hasn’t all happened by chance. I happened to work on the strategy for post-Expo when I first joined the Expo family. We always envisioned this place as a city. We closed in March, and opened our doors to the public six months later, in September. It’s not the same place, of course, but it’s in that phase of transitioning into the city that we all believe in.”
It was important to have those legacy elements in mind right from the beginning. She comments:
“I was very happy to see Terra featured in an article last week as one of the top sustainable museums. That meant a lot to me, personally, because when we were thinking about having an exhibition where we highlighted the issues around nature and the environment, we didn’t want it to be a temporary space. So, I visited a lot of those organisations mentioned on the list.”
“The idea was for Terra to continue in this mission of inspiring people – of all ages, but particularly children – about the environment.”
Some of the original plans for Expo City Dubai have changed:
“The Alif Pavilion was going to be converted into a commercial office space. But what ended up being in that pavilion was so intriguing to the public that there was a decision by our leadership to keep it as an attraction where people get to learn more about the history of the Arab world and understand more about human progress and what propels us as human beings. It is now a permanent exhibition.”
Expo City Dubai: the Women’s Pavilion
The Women’s Pavilion is a key part of the Expo’s legacy:
“There was a pavilion at the Osaka Expo, many years ago, that focused on women. We introduced the Women’s Pavilion to speak about the role of women in society, and also to promote gender equality, particularly around the theme that we were talking about specifically: sustainability.
“We have an exhibition that is designed to inspire anyone who comes through the doors to appreciate the role of women in society. This takes them through historical examples of women who have been part of human progress. We hear a lot about the role of men, but not so much about women.”
“While we highlight the role women have played, we are also very pragmatic. We have a part where we say, ‘Yes, we’ve come so far with appreciating and respecting the role of women in society, but there’s so much more to be done.’ We also address that within the pavilion.
“The final part of the experience gives examples of innovations that have come about through women. It’s a journey, and it targets individuals of all ages. Part of this pavilion is a space where we program events that highlight the role of women, the challenges of women, et cetera. It’s a pavilion that is going to be playing an important part during COP28 around highlighting the importance of women in the fight against the climate crisis.”
See also: Opportunity beckons at Expo 2020 Dubai
Celebrating women
Faraidooni also highlights something else she is particularly proud of, in connection to this pavilion:
“We introduced a children’s program for International Women’s Day. One of them was concerned with thinking about different types of heroes. This encouraged children to think outside the boundaries of the conventional heroes that they knew.”
We are focusing on ingraining gender equality within future generations through these workshops that we will be doing with schools.
“We are looking to introduce workshops in the future, and are studying that carefully around maybe rethinking the narratives and the endings of fairy tales. We are focusing on ingraining gender equality within future generations through these workshops that we will be doing with schools. The one for International Women’s Day was just for a particular period. However, we are looking to have more as we progress with our school program.”
The Three Stories of Nations at Expo City Dubai
Describing what visitors can expect from The Three Stories of Nations Pavilion, she says:
“We have welcomed 192 nations at Expo. That was a big deal because it was one of the highest country representations in any World Expo in history. Not only did we have representation from 192 nations, but we gave every nation, no matter what their economic background or size, individual representation.”
“At past Expos they’re always grouped as ‘The African States’, or ‘The Pacific’. Here, you could go across the site and visit any country from the Pacific, or any African nation.
“Visitors loved discovering the countries, and there was sort of a nostalgia that occurred after we closed the Expo around the countries. Before we closed, we decided that we were going to honour these countries by having small pavilions in each of our districts.”
Expo themes live on
There were three districts during Expo: Sustainability, Mobility, and Opportunity:
“We curated exhibition spaces that talked about all the countries that were represented in that particular district. You get to know all the countries that were represented at the Expo. You learn what they talked about, and you get to see some of the objects that they presented; some of the countries donated the objects they presented. Where they didn’t, we have replicas of what they had during the Expo.”
For the future, she adds:
“We do plan to have an Expo Museum; it is something that I’m currently working on right now. This Expo was monumental for the nation. It was our chance to present who we are as a people to the international world, and it was a chance for the countries represented to showcase who they are.
“It was a journey that the community felt that they were part of. So, we also want to honour that journey of planning and operating the Expo, because lovely things have come out of it.”
The best way to do this, she contends, is by archiving that journey through a museum supported by the three Stories of Nations that explores in depth the countries that were a part of it.
Attractions at Expo City Dubai
Three iconic attractions – Surreal, the Al Wasl Plaza & the Garden in the Sky – will continue to attract visitors to the area.
“These are wonderful spaces that we created for the Expo,” Faraidooni says:
“The Al Wasl Plaza is a wonderful gathering place and the core of our Expo site. It’s where we had our opening ceremony and our closing ceremony. Every day we would celebrate a nation’s national day in The Al Wasl Plaza.”
“It’s a unique space; because of the technology it uses, it comes alive differently. It has two personalities – one in the morning, and one in the evening. The personality in the morning, is, if I were to describe it, a very zen, contemplative space to be in. We find a lot of people just wanting to sit and enjoy the sound of the birds under that dome.”
A wide range of events
Events are also held there during the daytime:
“For example, we welcomed a group of school choirs who presented a show of songs that their teachers had developed. That was beautiful. We hosted a lot of children’s theatre in that space during the day. At night, the space turns into this beautiful dome where we tell stories through light projection.
“For the month of Ramadan, we have a theatre show featuring our mascots from the Expo, who talk about what the Holy Month of Ramadan is. They talk about how we look for the moon and wake up at night to have something to drink and eat before the fast. We’ve had really great feedback from the public; it speaks to everybody of all ages, especially the children. We continue to have the shows at night, and we also welcome any events there.”
Then there is the Garden in the Sky Observation Tower:
“The observation tower, which is designed as a garden, has a really nice feel to it. It takes you 55 metres up to give you a view over the city. It’s popular now, but it was also super-popular during Expo.”
Surreal at Expo City Dubai
Lastly, there is the Surreal water feature:
“I love it,” Faraidooni says. “It’s a very emotional space for me, personally. You enter it and are surrounded by waterfalls. People can step onto the slopes, and feel the water with their feet.”
As the water cascades in waves down the high, curved walls, it is accompanied by beautifully curated music:
“I sit there sometimes just watching people. I describe it as a place where you actually experience joy. Whether you are a four-year-old or an 80-year-old, people just love it when the water splashes down, and they can actually be part of it.”
“Honestly, it’s one of the most beautiful experiences that I’ve ever had in my life, and we have it here, at our Expo. People love it. It’s beautiful.”
The educational programme
Expo City Dubai also provides meaningful, relevant and stimulating educational and cultural experiences that inspire learning, agency and creativity outside the classroom.
She outlines the Expo school programme:
“We understood that this Expo had political objectives, but also had a responsibility towards the general public. It was accessible to everybody, particularly children. We felt that if we were getting the different cultures of the world here, we wanted the children – the school community – to experience that.”
Accordingly:
“My team and I built the Expo School Program, which continues to run. Through that program we were able, despite the challenges of Covid, to attract 1 million students to the Expo site through our Expo School Program, through which they had curated journeys to the pavilions. It was extremely educational, both complementing the curriculum and inspiring learning outside the classroom.”
Engaging with young people at Expo City Dubai
This is an educational initiative that is ongoing:
“We don’t have the 190 pavilions, but we do have seven pavilions on site,” she says:
“This is where Terra, the Sustainability Pavilion comes in. This is where Alif Pavilion, the Women’s Pavilion, the Vision Pavilion, and the Stories of Nations Pavilion all come in. We continue to curate journeys and engage with the school community.
“Since the Expo, we have developed very specific programming for schools and families. Today, schools can come to visit the exhibition. But we also offer them the opportunity to visit, for example, a science show. We give them several options for workshops around habitats, biodiversity, water, and anything related to the environment and technology. These have become very popular.”
“I’m very proud to say that we’ve been able to attract lots of schools back to the Expo. We know that this program will go from strength to strength.”
A core education team works on programs for all the attractions. Additionally:
“We recently launched a program with the Ministry of Climate Change in the UAE, the Climate Ambassador Program, for students from the ages of 12 up until 17. It’s a mock COP, where we simulate negotiations around the themes of COP, whether it is challenges in technology, loss and damage finance mechanisms, the political economy of emissions reductions, or biodiversity loss.
“We have seen up to 700 students go through this program since we launched on 20 February.”
STEAM vs. STEM
The focus, she explains, is on STEAM:
“I think it’s important to add the ‘A’ in STEAM, so it’s not just STEM. I’m very much into trying to promote the arts, particularly for our education program. I mentioned the choir of students from across the cities coming in together. Giving them the Al Wasl Plaza as a community service to stage their performance was a big deal for them.
“We have also welcomed schools to do performances around their interpretation of the climate crisis, and have offered them the Al Wasl Plaza. Giving them that stage gives them a confidence boost.”
“I feel this is a means of affording these young students a different way to express what they feel about the climate crisis and the environment in general. We saw a lot of beautiful performances around respect for animals, many of which were very honest in their representation of corporates and greed.
“I’m very keen on making sure that these types of programs continue. They are a soft way of protesting big topics that matter. These performances are open to the public. We invite the schools and their families, of course, but the public who visit can also watch them and they get impacted, too. It’s not necessarily a lecture, but watching these young students performing something that they are really passionate about is powerful.”
Sustainability at Expo City Dubai
Sustainability is a cornerstone of Expo City Dubai.
Faraidooni says:
“It’s a critical foundation of who we are as a city, and of what we are working towards. Just the very fact that the city and its investments have been used, and not gone to waste, is, we hope, a benchmark for other cities looking to have major events. 80% of the infrastructure that has been built for the Expo is being used.”
“That’s a big thing for us, as is the fact that we are planning to be a carbon-neutral city by 2030. Terra is striving for that by next year, so we have commenced our journey to Net Zero at Terra Pavilion.”
As part of this commitment, the use of public transport to the city is strongly encouraged:
“We don’t have cars that operate within the city. You can come in your car, but there is a Metro Station at the entrance to the city, and we encourage people to come through it.”
A core goal
In terms of the businesses coming in to take up residence in the new city, Faraidooni explains:
“We provide them with guidelines; we call them RISE guidelines, to give them guidance on how to make sure that they operate their business in a sustainable manner. The idea is that we offer help, rather than simply imposing rules. Through our education programs, we help them get to the required level.”
She adds:
“We do recognize it takes time. But we are keen to be aggressive in making sure that we become the sustainable city that we promised everyone that we would be. It is at the core of what we do; it is part of our value system.
“It is not easy to be deemed a sustainable city. We recognize the responsibility, and we know that we have a lot of work to do to get to that ideal state. However, we’re well on our way. We did a lot of work during the Expo. From a certification perspective, 123 of our buildings are LEED certified.
“We’re also proud of the fact that many of the buildings that have stayed have metering that allows the tenants to understand their intake of energy and water. This will guide them to become more responsible and efficient in their usage.”
The future of Expo City Dubai
Outlining future plans, she concludes:
“In the short term, we will continue to welcome visitors from all over the world to our events and attractions. In November we are hosting the COP, so that has been a big focus. Two weeks ago, the UAE launched The Road to COP and we invited young people to participate in discussions around climate issues.”
As far as the medium term is concerned, the team are launching real estate development projects to continue the transitioning of this space into a permanent city: residences, and apartment buildings. Then:
“In the long term, we will continue to create this human-centric city that is not only about getting businesses and corporates to do their work, but also respects nature, and respects people. We are a very animal-friendly site. We take care of the cats who are residents here. It’s somewhere, too, that people love to come and walk their dogs.
“In addition to business, in addition to the work around academia and education that we do, it’s also a place where we want the future generation to contemplate how they could be part of the future. All the initiatives I talked about are part of this learning environment we want to create that complements schools, that makes the younger generation love topics that they talk about in their classrooms.
“That is our longer-term vision, if you will, as well, of course, as reaching carbon neutrality, and becoming a benchmark sustainable city around the world.”
Top image: Surreal on International Women’s Day 2022. Photo by Christophe Viseux/Expo 2020 Dubai
