Call for articles and projects for the September 2008 #9 issue of the Dubai based 2A (Art and Architecture) magazine and the ‘Dubai Urban Shopping Manual’:

Boutique City: Designing for Sale

This special issue will focus on retail and shopping in Dubai, the UAE, GCC and the Gulf as a whole. Other articles and presentations that make a contribution to the contemporary global culture of retail will also be considered.

Introduction
In the 21st century the rush to consume anything from objects to culture and lifestyle has become synonymous with success. The UAE is now ranked among the top 10 international retail destinations. Dubai’s retail space is approaching 2 million square meters. The city is almost all about advertising, marketing and shopping in an act of ‘total lifestyle’.

Shopping is a dominant form of urban activity and a truly contemporary experience. This has led to concentrated infrastructures and mega-structure complexes linked by shopping containing malls, cinemas, expo, hotel, apartments and anything goes, which are clustered very close together. This is the new concept of urbanism.
Dubai, like other cities in the 21st century, has shifted its priorities from public interest to revenue maximization. Dubai’s malls are designed on fiction and fantasy. Fiction is ingenious in creating images for the city. This city thrives on newness, in an act of ongoing self-stylization and fantasy. Hence architecture is crucial for it defines these elements. Little more than a grand-scale ‘shopping mall’ the city is comprised of ‘mind-zone’ spaces and of airport-like lobbies. In this ‘theme park’ cityscape, everything is contemporary and even more consumable.

Some links on Dubai’s major Malls:
Ibn Battuta Mall: http://www.ibnbattutamall.com/
Wafi City Mall: http://www.waficity.com/
Deira City Centre: http://www.deiracitycentre.com/
Mall of the Emirates: http://www.malloftheemirates.com/
Burjuman Centre Mall: http://www.burjuman.com/site/index.php
The Dubai Mall: http://www.thedubaimall.com/

Suggested themes
Shops and Shopping / Urban Boutiques / Malls and other typologies / Hypermarkets / Department Stores / Street Bazaars and Souks / Trading Places / Branding / Media, Advertising and Marketing / Packaging / Virtual shopping / Lifestyle. Submissions can have urban, architectural, cultural, historical or social context.

Submission
Submission types:
1- Essays, critical text and illustrations on spaces for shopping and retail
2- Presentation of design projects for retail

All text should be in MS Word and all images in jpeg format to be emailed by 15 August 2008 to George Katodrytis () and Ahmad Zohadi ()

George Katodrytis is Associate Professor at the School of Architecture & Design of the American University of Sharjah, UAE and Ahmad Zohadi is the founder and editor of 2A magazine.

http://katodrytis.com/main/184/boutique-city-designing-for-sale

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