Dubai’s state-coordinated urban transformation from connectivity-led modernization toward sustainability planning

Dubai’s rapid urban transformation has relied on connectivity-oriented infrastructure: ports, airports, logistics corridors, free zones, and regulatory platforms that move goods, people, capital, and information across borders. These systems supported economic diversification and the city’s international position, while also contributing to car dependence, resource use, environmental pressure, and unequal access to urban opportunities. Although scholarship examines connectivity-led development and sustainability planning in Dubai, the two are often considered separately. This Perspective examines how sustainability has entered Dubai’s state-coordinated development model and whether policy priorities are supported by evidence of implementation and outcomes. It draws on qualitative document analysis of 43 academic, policy, and institutional sources. The analysis finds that connectivity-led modernization and state coordination established the growth model, while the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan and related policies have added sustainability priorities. The reviewed sources do not establish city-wide improvements in environmental performance or social inclusion. Sustainability is therefore best understood as a reorientation of Dubai’s existing development model.