In the articles “London on a Roll” by Simon Worall and “A Tale of Three Cities” by Joel Swerdlow, the features of a cosmopolitan city is shown. “London on a Roll” demonstrates London’s diversity and her financial success in a well-developed economy, it also shows London’s internationalism as acceptance to everyone is mentioned in the article, disregarding sexual identification; “A Tale of Three Cities” illustrates Cordoba’s advancement in medicine, knowledge, history, and architecture.
It also illustrates New York’s diversities in providing many job opportunities in her fast-paced economy. Cosmopolitanism could be defined as having a successful and well-developed economy, and a society with diversity and acceptance while having an affluent tourism industry. In the article “Dubai Sudden City” by Afshin Molavi, it shows that Dubai acquires all the features above, leading to a conclusion that Dubai is a cosmopolitan city. To start off with, Dubai has the features of London and New York as she demonstrates her financial success in a welldeveloped economy.
In “London on a Roll”, Worall states that “Today, with 539 foreign banks, it is the most international: More than 437 billion dollars flows through its foreign currency markets every day, far more than anywhere else in the world. The value of London’s economy-$162 billion-is larger than that of many countries, including Poland, Singapore, and even Switzerland. ” (Worall) and “London’s surging economy is drawing a new wave of migrants” (Worall) The quotes depicts that London is an international financial center with well-developed economy, as she has a large amount of international banks, and a large amount of money flows every day.
It also shows London as a financial center and people are attracted to money, opportunity and upward mobility. In the article “A Tale of Three Cities”, New York shows the features of a cosmopolitan city as she demonstrates financial success in terms of job opportunities. As mentioned by the author, “There are many ways to enter. You wash dishes, then you own your own restaurant, then you manage the building. ” (Swerdlow) and “Easy-access jobs attract many immigrants to New York.
So does the opportunity to make money” (Swerdlow) The quotes illustrates that the fast paced economy-New York provides many job opportunities and upward mobility that attracts many new immigrants to New York, emphasized the success of New York’s economy. Besides London and New York, Dubai also has the characteristics having financial success. According to “Dubai Sudden City”, “The people of 150 nations have moved here to live and work. ” (Molavi) and “It’s the soft stuff: the laws, the regulations, the liberal social environment.
With no corporate or income taxes, a top-notch baking system, and a legal code that favors property and ownership… ” (Molavi) The quote shows that Dubai has well-developed economy and provides many job opportunities, so it attracts many foreigners to work and develop their business there. So, Dubai is a cosmopolitan city as it has the features of London and New York that they are all having a successful and well-developed economy while providing many job opportunities. Besides the economy, Dubai is a cosmopolitan city because of her diversity and acceptance, which has the same features as London and New York.
In terms of diversity and acceptance in London, “Fifty nationalities with communities of more than 5000 make their home in the city and on any given day 300 languages are spoken” (Worall) and “The races used to be quite distinct, but rather than the edges becoming ever more sharply defines, as they are in France or the States, they are really beginning to blur,” (Worall) The quotes show how many people are actually in one city of 300 languages are spoken daily, and it also shows diversity and internationalism.
Besides the language diversity and being a multicultural city, London also has its openmindedness on sexual identification. According to the author, “London’s broad-mindedness has made the city a magnet for homosexuals. ” (Worall) The quote shows London has acceptance and tolerance for everyone, disregarding even sexual identification. Moreover, in the article “A Tale of Three Cities”, the author claims that “Since 1860 between 20 and 50 percent of all New Yorkers have been foreign-born. (Swerdlow) This illustrates that New York has diversity in terms of having different nationalities in the city, meaning that they accept being a multicultural city. Equivalently, diversity and acceptance also exist in Dubai. According to the article “Dubai Sudden City”, the author mentions that “Alongside the bars and nightclubs, there are mosques and churches and Hindu temples, and, for a city where so many competing religions and nationalities, it is remarkably free of ethnic conflict. “(Molavi) This shows that Dubai has the acceptance and high freedom of religion due to the open-mindedness of the city.
Besides religious acceptance, Dubai also has acceptance of different nationalities. As the author mentions, “Over the past decade, I’ve traveled to Dubai often and grown to appreciate the quirky multiculturalism of a city where one can eat in an Italian restaurant run by an Egyptian, with an Indian head chef and Filipino waiters who break into operettas every half hour. “(Molavi) The quote claims that multiculturalism exists in Dubai and it leads to social harmony, that everyone communicate with each other regardless of their nationality.
It suggests that Dubai respect and tolerate people with different backgrounds: nationalities, cultures and religion. Thus, Dubai is similar to London and New York, the two cosmopolitan cities, as they have similar features, like having diversity, but also respect and have the tolerance towards different backgrounds of people. Hence, Dubai is considered as a cosmopolitan city. In addition, Dubai is considered as a cosmopolitan city because the tourism industry is affluent, which is similar to London and Alexandria.
According to the article “London on a Roll”, the author states that, “A journey to London used to be a gastronomic Calvary, but with more than 6000 restaurants serving dishes from every corner of the planet, London may now be the most cosmopolitan culinary center anywhere in the world. ” (Worall) This claims that different varieties of cuisine exist in London, which favors the tourism industry, Moreover, the article “A Tale of Three Cities” mentions “The United Nations and other international agencies are cooperating with the Egyptian government to finance a new 200-million-dollar Alexandria Library near a possible site of the old one. (Swerdlow) The quote illustrates that Alexandria preserves the cultural heritage and knowledge well, and that is essential to the tourism industry, that it would attracts tourist from all around the world.
Similarly, Dubai also has the features of having an affluent tourism industry. According to the article “Dubai Sudden City”, “Dubai serves as a capital for tourism and trade. It’s clearly very popular. (Molavi) and “Entering is like crossing the threshold into an alternative reality: a lavish, artificial world of high-end clothing boutiques, edgy music stores, cafes, and restaurants that culminates a massive, plateglass window with skill lifts in the distance. ” (Molavi) The quotes suggest that Dubai is popular in terms of tourism and trading, since it has huge, luxurious and fancy shopping malls and restaurants, it attracts tourist which favors Dubai’s tourism industry. Hence, Dubai is considered as a cosmopolitan city.
On the contrary, some people may not agree that Dubai is a cosmopolitan city as they may recognize some downside of Dubai. Since Dubai has high freedom, they are lacking of social justice and illegal activities are common as people take advantage of that. In the article of “Dubai Sudden City”, it mentions that “And behind the glittering skyscrapers lies a night world of fleabag hotels and prostitutes, Indian and Russian mobsters, money launderers, and smugglers of everything from guns and diamonds to human beings. ” (Molavi) The quote implies that Dubai is corrupted and the society does not have proper moral values.
However, having these features does not mean that Dubai is not a cosmopolitan city. When we look at London, it also has similar issues and people still agree that London is a cosmopolitan city. As the article “London on a Roll” mentions, “This golden age has a dark side. In a church graveyard in Brixton, I saw marijuana and other drugs being dealt among the tombstones. ” (Worall) This quote suggests that drug dealing is common in London and it is still regarded as a cosmopolitan city. Hence, Dubai is still a cosmopolitan city because every cosmopolitan city has its own drawbacks, like a beautiful cloth covering the dust.
In conclusion, Dubai is a cosmopolitan city not only does it have a successful and well-developed economy, but also a society with diversity and acceptance while having an affluent tourism industry, which are similar to the features in London, New York and Alexandria. Even though Dubai is lack of social justice, leading to the problem of corruption. Every cosmopolitan city has its own drawbacks and it is unfair that we only focus on a black spot and forget the large piece of white at the back. Hence, Dubai is a cosmopolitan city.
