Please send letters for the website, clearly marked FORUM, to Julia Dawson at: julia.dawson@emap.com or The Architectural Review, Greater London House, Hampstead Road, London NW1 7EJ, England. DON'T DO DISAPPOINTING DUBAI As we descended over the desert into Dubai I strained in my seat to catch the first glimpse of a city I have heard described as a ‘Mecca to modernism’. As an architect whose line of work tends to be at the bolder end of innovative construction I was expecting to spend a few days marvelling in the exciting architectural advances taking place in this ‘Las Vegas’ of the East. What a disappointment. Maybe I am missing a trick here but I found Dubai to be dull, dull, dull. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty to look and marvel at, but it is awkward and fragmented. Its potentially iconic skyscrapers look lonely and adrift as they sit in un-splendid sandy isolation. The city suffers in that its buildings are too removed from the essential infrastructure that makes any city work. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating the sort of city wide planning that 19th Century French King Louis-Philippe forced onto Paris, but this Dubai is chaos and it doesn’t work. Jerry Robinson, the visionary behind the fictional metropolis of Gotham City said he dreamt that his creation would be the ultimate expression of a lack of planning or control. And that’s Dubai, but without the density, style or consistency of Batman’s home! Dubai’s fans often shout down these criticisms crying that “it isn’t finished yet” but don’t be fooled. Many of the residents I spoke to in Dubai had had enough and were shipping out.  City’s that don’t work, don’t last long and the current furore surrounding Dubai is, I’m afraid, simply another case of the architectural emperor’s new clothes. Maybe Abu Dhabi is the place to go. Yours etc Richard Hywel Evans BA Hons. AA Diploma, RIBA MCSD Founder, Richard Hywel Evans Architecture & Design Ltd (RHE)