This is your Dubai. Here in this single image, the city comes alive.
The eye is drawn at first to the shadow of the Sheikh Zayed road, threading between the towers of 21st century Dubai.
On the right is the 333 metre Rose Rayhaan Rotana, the second tallest hotel in the world (the tallest is also in Dubai), the Al Yaqoub Tower, inspired by London’s Big Ben and the distinctive twins of the Jumeirah Emirates Towers.
On the left is the Shangri-La, the black glass of the Aspin Tower and the 66-storey Khalid Al Attar building.
Snaking through the photograph is the Dubai Metro. From this height, no fewer than seven stations can be seen, golden armadillos that include the Dubai Mall stop in the foreground to Karama in the distant haze. Look closely and at least five trains are visible.
Bisecting the image, Financial Centre Road tangles into the interchange that bears its name and emerges as Al Safa Street.
To the left are the villas and shops of Jumeirah, Satwa and Bada’a, with the drydocks just visible in the top corner. The silver stripe twin towers of the Manazel building in the distance show Kuwait Street.
In the foreground is the distinctive tented roof of the Mazayah shopping centre.
This photograph now joins perhaps many hundreds of thousands that carry the designation #mydubai, the initiative launched in January by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, the Crown Prince of Dubai and chairman of Dubai Executive Council, abd an avid social media user.
The year-long project aims to create a form of social autobiography — the story of Dubai documented by those who know it best, the people who live there.
Sheikh Hamdan, popularly known as Fa’aza, made the first contribution to the collection when he posted a short video of himself taking part in extreme sports.
“A city’s story is created by its people,” he said at the launch, “it’s time to join together and show the world how 2.1 million people can create one remarkable story. Together we will create the world’s first autobiography of a city.”
Today there are more than half a million images on Instagram and about 350 million impressions on Twitter.
The #MyDubai logo has been shaved into the coats of horses racing in the Dubai World Cup, projected on to the side of the Burj Al Arab hotel and painted on one of Dubai Police’s luxury patrol cars.
Aida Al Busaidy, a senior manager in PR and communication at Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, said the success of the campaign was not a surprise.
“For those raised in Dubai or who have chosen to live here, it’s a city that people are proud of and happy to talk about so the initiative just created a gateway to share all the wonderful experiences and stories and have it sit somewhere,” she said. “#MyDubai is essentially becoming the tour guide we’ve always wanted.”
* James Langton / Photo by Sarah Dea / The National