Special Expo2020 Dubai

SPECIAL EXPO2020 DUBAI ALL EYES ON DUBAI

Expo 2020 Dubai is a unique celebration of art, culture, music, architecture, technology and more. It is dedicated to finding solutions to the world's most pressing challenges and takes visitors on journeys packed with engaging and immersive content and programming.

by travel-expert :José Berrocoso

For 170 years, the World Expo has celebrated human progress and achievement, welcoming visitors to innovate and create by sharing ideas and working together. One of the oldest and largest international events, World Expos take place every five years and last six months. Since the Great Exhibition in London in 1851, World Expos across the globe have demonstrated an unparalleled power to attract visitors and showcase future-shaping innovations. Technology unveiled at previous World Expos includes the X-ray machine, the typewriter and the first live television broadcast. World Expos have also brought us the Eiffel Tower, the Seattle Space Needle, IMAX movies, Heinz Tomato Ketchup and the ice cream cone.

For the first time in World Expo history, every country has its own pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai where they can share the best of their cultures, innovation and human progress. Through the theme and the purpose, ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’, Expo 2020 Dubai is a platform to encourage creativity, innovation and collaboration across three subthemes: Sustainability, Opportunity and Mobility.

The theme reflects the history of Dubai, historically called Al Wasl, or ‘the connection’. Dubai has long played an important role in connecting east and west, north and south. The vision is to build on Dubai’s role as a cross-continental gateway and deliver a World Expo that advances the potential of human collaboration, while inspiring visitors to create a positive, long-term impact for people around the world. Expo 2020 Dubai coincides with the UAE’s 50th anniversary in 2021, marking an important milestone for the country. And it´s the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia region.

If travel is the best teacher in life, then Expo 2020 Dubai is the perfect place to be educated. Just imagine who you’ll meet and what you’ll experience as you explore the world in one place. It’s a once-in-a-lifestime experience, a feast for all of your senses, and an opportunity for us all to come together today to reimage the world of tomorrow.

Sustainability is one of Expo 2020’s three key subthemes and the six-month event will serve as a platform to drive change, share solutions and explore new ideas that encourage us to act collectively in order to save our planet. The subtheme touches on the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the places where we live, and looks to create positive environmental impacts on a national, regional and global scale.

Expo 2020’s Sustainability Pavilion, named Terra (meaning Planet Earth) highlights the urgency of addressing negative environmental impacts, caused in large part by human behaviour, through an engaging, playful and personal experience that is designed to empower visitors, particularly children, to understand their impact on the environment, break the cycle of consumerism, and become agents of change.

The pavilion also sets an example for sustainable building design, extending into Expo 2020’s postevent legacy, when it will become a Science Centre that will inspire sustainable choices for generations to come. In legacy, the Sustainability Pavilion aspires to be a self-sustaining building generating 100 per cent of its energy and water supply.

Designed by Grimshaw Architects, the Sustainability Pavilion is planned to meet LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum green building standards. Drawing inspiration from natural processes such as photosynthesis, the dynamic form of the pavilion is in service to its function, capturing energy from sunlight and fresh water from humid air.

The emotive visitor experience tells the enchanting story of humankind’s relationship with nature, while addressing negative environmental impacts, caused in large part by human behaviour, helping visitors – the younger generation in particular – to understand their impact on the environment, break the cycle of consumerism, and become agents of change.

Expo 2020 Dubai runs until 31 March 2022, inviting the world to join a celebration of unity, opportunity, creativity and sustainability that will help to shape a better, brighter future for everyone.

OPPORTUNITY

There’s a ripple effect in everything we do. Even one person can be the key to unlocking eight billion opportunities that can help individuals and communities create a better tomorrow, today. It’s time to unleash the potential within and be an agent of change.

Witness how our lives and actions are interconnected in the Opportunity District. Meet the people worldwide who are transforming dreams and aspirations into the realities of tomorrow, and be empowered to shape the future by unlocking the potential within yourself.

The Opportunity Pavilion, designed by AGi Architects, builds on the rich urban history of the “plaza” and its universal significance as a place for people to connect across age, language and culture, to celebrate our shared human experiences.

MOBILITY

Experience how the Mobility District creates connections to drive the world forward, breaking down the divide between the physical and digital worlds to build a harmonious, global society where information, ideas and goods are exchanged faster than ever before.

The Mobility Pavilion, designed by the awardwinning Foster + Partners, features the world’s largest passenger lift, which will transport 160+ people at a time. The pavilion also stars a partly underground, partly open-air 330-metre track for you to see cuttingedge mobility devices in action.