Dubai hosted Expo 2020 — delayed to 2021–22 by the pandemic — on a 438-hectare site in Dubai South. After the expo closed, the site was rebranded Expo City Dubai and converted into a mixed business, residential, and attractions district.

The Sustainability Pavilion — net-zero, solar-powered, pulling drinking water from air — is the building worth the trip. The Al Wasl Plaza dome, with its night projection mapping, is the image most people leave with. The rest of the site is still finding its identity.