Abu Dhabi is creating a real estate, tourist and cultural footprint the size of Manhattan on Saadiyat Island. While some of Europe and the Western world are still in a balancing act between retraction and growth, Abu Dhabi is expanding. As the nation approaches its 50th anniversary since it began shipping oil in 1962, the Emirate State is forging ahead with development on Saadiyat Island.

To develop the island, about the size of Manhattan below 72nd Street, the Emirate’s developers have hired such architectural luminaries as Lord Norman Foster, Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry and golf course designers Gary Player and Robert Trent Jones, Jr to create a culturally rich new art, commerce and tourist destination in the Gulf. I found the video documentary below interesting and worth sharing.

Master planners and designers brought together to build what will be a city in its own right…on the shores of the Persian Gulf. West meets East. Abu Dhabi’s intentions seem different than its more oppulent neighbor Dubai. Will the results be? Only time will tell. One thing is for sure…vision creates change.