Dubai to Become World's Most Sophisticated and Visually Stunning City, Directs UAE Vice President

Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced an ambitious plan to make Dubai the world's best city across all sectors during the annual Mohammed bin Rashid Leaders Forum. The initiative brings together 1,000 top leaders from government and private sectors to create what he calls "Team Dubai" — a coordinated effort to build the most beautiful, peaceful, and advanced city on earth.

Speaking at the leadership forum, Sheikh Mohammed outlined a vision that goes beyond economic growth. He wants Dubai to become a global model for integrated, inspiring living through enhanced urban beauty, environmental sustainability, and stronger family values. The plan focuses on creating quieter urban environments that improve residents' health and wellbeing while reducing pollution and enhancing the city's overall appearance.

"Dubai already leads important global competitiveness indicators," Sheikh Mohammed said. "We want Dubai to be the best city in the world in all sectors. We need every official to follow up on achieving this vision with doubled efforts and establish special standards for evaluating achievement and speed of implementation."

The ruler emphasized that all decisions, policies, and projects must start with people and end with people. He envisions Dubai as the best city for children, families, seniors, tourists, and traders — a place where individuals live with dignity and society thrives through cooperation, compassion, and harmony.

This human-centered approach represents a shift from Dubai's traditional focus on infrastructure and business development. The new strategy aims to balance economic ambitions with quality of life improvements. For investors and businesses, this could mean new opportunities in sectors like urban planning, environmental technology, and family services as Dubai restructures itself around these priorities.

The forum divided participants into five specialized leadership councils covering cultural identity and media, Dubai's economy, future city development, social integration, and technology and digital transformation. Each council worked on specific initiatives to implement Sheikh Mohammed's directives quickly and effectively.

"We want Dubai to be the most beautiful, most peaceful, cleanest and purest, most organized and disciplined, most nature-preserving city — and the most refined, cohesive, and compassionate," he explained. The plan includes creating sustainable living environments that combine environmental protection with entertainment, culture, and economic activities.

Sheikh Mohammed also stressed the importance of developing leadership capabilities for the future. "We want a generation of leaders with competencies that keep pace with the trends of the new global era — faster in thinking, bolder in change, capable of reading future trends and adopting new concepts," he said.

The annual forum serves as Dubai's primary platform for strategic leadership discussions and coordination between government entities and private sector partners. This year's gathering focused specifically on transforming Sheikh Mohammed's vision into actionable projects and measurable outcomes.

For Dubai's position as a global business hub, this comprehensive city improvement plan could strengthen its competitive advantage. The emphasis on quality of life, environmental sustainability, and family-friendly policies may attract more international talent and long-term residents, supporting the emirate's economic diversification goals.

The initiative reflects broader trends in urban development where cities compete not just on business metrics but on livability standards. Dubai's systematic approach to becoming the world's best city across multiple dimensions could set new benchmarks for urban excellence globally.