The largest global event since the beginning of the pandemic, Expo 2020 Dubai opened in October of last year after a year-long delay. Set to last until the end of this March, Dubai Expo is the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia regions. 192 countries are showcasing their culture and innovation in Dubai, setting the record as the most inclusive World Expo ever. Each country has their own unique pavilion, made possible with grants and support from the Expo committee. It was their mission to ensure that all nations are represented and no participating entity is at a disadvantage. 

With the slogan “Connecting Minds and Creating the Future”, the Expo focuses on the three sub-themes: sustainability, mobility, and opportunity. Spanning across an area larger than 6,000 football fields, Expo 2020 Dubai is truly the world’s greatest show. I had opportunities to visit the Expo in person, and I was amazed by its sheer scale. Even though I made several whole-day trips, there was always so much more to see. Wandering around the Expo site was like taking a crash course on world travel. With performances, visual arts, music, and many delicious ethnic cuisines, Expo is full of sensory experiences to indulge.

However, Dubai Expo is much more than just a fun attraction. Its main purpose is to foster global cooperation in innovation. Expo Live, a key initiative, offers funding and support for innovators across the globe. Global Best Practice Programme highlights projects that have provided impactful and sustainable intervention for tackling world’s biggest challenges. Furthermore, in association with the United Nations, Dubai Expo hosted Global Goals Week. During the week, President Moon Jae-In visited the Expo in person and gave an address congratulating Dubai Expo for “turning hope for a sustainable future into a reality” and asking for support in Busan’s bid for Expo 2030. Expo can be a great opportunity for national promotion and hold significant political, cultural, and technological meaning. It can also have a lasting impact in the host city: for example, in Daejeon, the namesake Expo Bridge and Science Park with the symbolic Hanbit Tower remain as landmarks from the event hosted in 1993.

Despite its grand aims and extensive preparations, Dubai Expo was not without controversy. A report by Equidem highlighted the abusive working conditions at the site. The European parliament passed a resolution calling for sponsors to withdraw on the grounds of abuse of migrant workers in the UAE. Another main criticism was on sustainability, which ironically is one of the main pillars of the Dubai Expo. Committed to being “the most sustainable Expo ever”, the Expo committee claims to have sustainability ingrained in everything — from constructions to establishing legacy long after the event is over. However, as one commentator from Archinect noted: “Does the construction of any 1.7 square mile temporary city across a barren desert make sense in our universally-declared mission to combat climate change?” The sustainability pavilion, an architectural masterpiece, was criticized for its embodied carbon footprint of 18,000 tons, which is double the recommended level for a building of its scale.  Even with the commendable efforts by the committee, there are remaining doubts about whether the Expo promoting sustainability is sustainable itself.

In these tumultuous times, Dubai’s decision to spend 7 billion USD in the Expo may sound like just another extravaganza at a desert utopia. To some, summits and forums may never seem to make any significant difference. Still, they are not without a purpose. In order to tackle global challenges, we need stages for dialogues and connections. To that end, Dubai Expo was a huge success: it served as a stage for linking and connecting cultures and people. With more than 11 million visitors, it represented a singular global communal moment mid-pandemic. As humans, we crave for a sense of place and conviviality that an in-person event like Expo provides. In a pandemic-ridden world, the Expo’s vision of “connecting minds and creating the future” resonates stronger than ever.