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Abstract Cities with successful urban development in the process of becoming global cities have become a model for upcoming cities. The global circulation of planning models and policies can be identified and substantiated in terms other than mere, “Globalization” which our case study, the metropolis of Dubai is famous for. The fast-track urban transformation of the city has rather gathered exalt in its growing years and criticism in what followed. What catches a planner’s eye at first glance at the city would be its high fragmentation and the dysconnectivity with multiple nuclei. One of these is Downtown Dubai which by itself is a greenfield development but it took the sacrificing of its surrounding neighbourhoods, Al Satwa and Al Wasl to make way for the circulation of planning practices and models from cities considered successful. Webster defines “circulation” as passage or transmission from person to person or place to place which in our case is the transmission of urban models from place to place i.e., in and from Dubai, our primary case. Through this circulation, It has undergone instant urbanism with a spillover effect on the gulf and world cities. This thesis will contribute to investigating broadly the patterns of circulation drawing from case studies of various scales and largely from the East Asian cities of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. The findings from them will be applied to compare with the urban models, policies and planning practices circulated in and from Dubai.
Keywords: Circulation, Planning practices, Urban models, Urban change, Urban Replication, Urban policies, Land acquisition, Asian cities
