Transport Systems and U.A.E. Urban Development: Multimodal Transport Facilities in a Polycentric Urban Region

Current literature on urban agglomerations in relation to global trade and transport generally tends to focus on the post-industrialized West and East and so underplays the role of other parts of the world system, including the MEN ASA (Middle East-North Africa-South Asia) region. In doing so, scholars discount a variety of spatial, morphological, environmental, historical, and socio-political urban patterns particular to these other regions and cities. This article addresses this oversight by examining the United Arab Emirates coastal conurbation (U.A.E.-CC, including Dubai-Abu Dhabi-Sharjah-Ajman), with its unique global positioning and political and economic conditions. The U.A.E.-CC is explored in relation to theories of the world/global city, the airport city or aerotropolis, and the polycentric urban region (PUR). The article demonstrates the emerging formation and potential of the U.A.E.-CC PUR, a member of a world-city network specializing as a transport hub and tourist destination and a global logistics centre.