The tall, fast and changing Abu Dhabi

ABU DHABI — If you tell a cab driver in Abu Dhabi to take you to NYU's new satellite campus, you'll receive a blank stare. But if you ask to be brought to the Old Fish Market, he'll hit the gas.

In a city of fast-paced development, even the cab drivers can't keep up with the changes.

Getting around Abu Dhabi isn't easy. Street signs only mark the biggest thruways. Addresses are approximate; they use landmarks and estimates instead of numbers. And NYUAD's mailing address is a series of P.O. boxes "behind the ADIA Tower and across Al Nasr Street from the Cultural Foundation."

Abu Dhabi is a driver's city. To the left, you see a 10-lane highway; to the right, an empty sidewalk, as empty as the parking lots while highways are full. In most cities, a high-end Mercedes parked on the curb stands out. Here, they are the rule.

Once you've arrived at the NYU center, pay your cab driver 10 or 15 dirhams, approximately 3 or 4 dollars, get out and look up — and up — and up.

Abu Dhabi is tall.

In other cities, high-rises punctuate the skyline, but in Abu Dhabi only a few compete to be the tallest. Across the street, scaffolding clings to a skyscraper. The migrant laborers, however, are absent from the vertical construction site — it's Friday, the first day of the weekend in the United Arab Emirates, and the workers' day off.

Contrasting the shiny skyscrapers are older, run-down apartment buildings. Indeed, the buildings are likely only 20 years old, but they evoke modern style.

The Emirates were formed 39 years ago and sit on approximately 9 percent of the world's oil. Residents are largely expatriates; only 19 percent of the country is composed of nationals.
According to Iraqi-American Hassan Fattah, editor-in-chief of The National, Abu Dhabi's English daily newspaper, Abu Dhabi thrives on ambition and success.

"There is an emphasis on work and accomplishment," Fattah said in an interview at his office. There's virtually no unemployment, either, he added, because expatriates lose their visas when they lose their jobs.

Abu Dhabi is a new world center and both NYU and Abu Dhabi are looking to capitalize on that. NYU may not be able to pay the highest salaries, but it can attract great minds who aren't interested in relocating to the U.S., President John Sexton said.

Fattah thinks Abu Dhabi will welcome the students of NYUAD into the city and the workplace as they look to cultivate home grown talent. "One of the hardest things is finding talent here," he said. Companies have to regularly look outside their borders to the international market to recruit their staff.

The city is safe; the crime rate is low. Earlier this month, 97 percent of residents of the Emirates said they felt safe, according to a YouGov survey commissioned by The National.

"You do not have to think about your personal safety here," Fattah said.

Some believe the absence of crime stems from the severe judicial system and strict punishments. Public drunkenness can lead to jail time, and drug trafficking is punishable, in certain cases, by death.

Fattah attributed the low crime rate to the culture of success and hard work. "People are busy. People are here to build, and create and advance."

But for Fattah, the connection is more personal.

"For a guy like me, this place is perfect," he said. It has all the comforts of America, and "when I go into a grocery store, I see the food my mom used to make."