Dubai's edifice complex

Rising in the distance in the above photo beyond the historic centre of Dubai (along the creek) is the infamous Sheikh Zayed Road.
In recent years this road has come to symbolize Dubai and it's insane growth more than any other part of the city.
The genesis of what is today the site for some of the tallest structures in the world including the under construction
- Burj Dubai - above photo - (already the tallest building in the world)
was laid way back in 1978 when Sheikh Rashid decided to place the Dubai world trade centre - above photo - on what was at the time a small but important road through the desert connecting Dubai to Abu Dhabi.
This bold building - WTC Dubai - (the tallest in the Middle East at the time of it's opening) preempted Dubai's - and particularly this street's - obsession of conquering the sky.

Here's a few photos of this crazy road:
And here's some focusing on some of the insanely high buildings on this stretch: And a couple more of the tallest of them all :

Critics of Dubai use the Potemkin nature of Sheikh Zayed road as a metaphor of the bizarre development of the city itself.
The above photo shows Sheikh Zayed road as seen from the open beach at Jumeirah.