An opinion piece on Forbes.com suggests moving the UN from New York City to Dubai. Aside from the argument that the UN is a drain on New York’s economy, “the U.N. may be leaving anyway. A relocation committee has recommended that the organization move temporarily to Singapore by 2015. It will be hard to vacate Asia again for New York, which is far away from the bulk of the world’s largest population centers.”

Photo by Sean Dubberke

The writer argues that the ruling al-Maktoum family has developed one of the most impressive, modern cityscapes to date. A truly global city, the population comprises a majority of foreign nationals. “Sheikh Mohammed could offer to build a United Nations City to house the U.N. in any number of vacant office towers. Business Bay has 65 million square feet of office space under construction in more than 200 high-rises. Dubai already has thousands of newly constructed apartments that await the international delegates. More than 2 billion people in Africa, Europe and Asia are within a six-hour flight from Dubai.”

The argument is persuasive, but how would this change Dubai in the long term? How would New York handle the loss of UN workers? The culturally diverse population of Dubai and the UAE would certainly suit an organization like the UN, but how would this affect the region, which may not share the same visionary future?

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