Ajman Uptown, the emirate’s first freehold project.

… Regional real estate investor: “There is a tough summer ahead and it will be a miracle if the sector sees any surge in real estate prices by then.” In Ajman, buyers’ lack of confidence has made it impossible to appraise the value of off-plan homes….

An elite panel of international urban planning and sustainability experts was addressed by Mr. Salem Al Qassimi, Planning Manager - Estidama, on Abu Dhabi’s innovative sustainability approach and plans to achieve the highest levels of sustainability, while seeking to transform Abu Dhabi into the sustainable Arab Capital and a major international economic hub.

A youtube clip from last fall pans Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, just under a year before its scheduled opening this Fall. KAUST (or sometimes Kaust) spans 36km2, 80km north of Jeddah in an old fishing village, and is costing the kingdom about $10 billion . Its founders claim KAUST will be “most independent in the world.” Reports say that faculty will call from esteemed Western universities like Cambridge, Harvard and Stanford. Though the clip doesn’t capture a busy work day, the immense scale of the project comes through.

Master Plan for Qatar’s Education City

Qatar dedicated 2.8% of its 2008 GDP to academic research, exceeding investments by the United States (2.7%) and the United Kingdom (1.8%)….

… More than a third of the GCC’s planned hotel openings in the coming two years will take place in the UAE. Abu Dhabi’s tourism development authority (TDIC) confirmed all of its 2009 projects are on schedule, including Qasr Al Sarab (“Mirage Palace”) in the Empty Quarter (pictured) …