LYON, France (AFP) — After Abu Dhabi's deal for its own Louvre museum, Dubai is also going for the French touch with plans to build its version of Lyon, complete with cafes, cinemas and schools, according to Lyon officials.

Due to be completed by 2012, the project is the brainchild of a Dubai entrepreneur who fell in love with Lyon, one of the France's three biggest cities, after travelling there as part of plans for a French-language university in Dubai in partnership with Lyon-2 university.

Buti Saeed Al Gandhi, who heads investment capital firm Emivest, is expected to sign a draft accord next week between the French city and Dubai.

He wants to extend the university project into a huge district named Lyon-Dubai City that will be graced with public squares, restaurants, outdoor cafes and museums, and play host to the same gastronomic, cultural, sporting and economic institutions found in the French urban hub.

"We're not going to just copy the buildings and make a type of Lyon decor, but reinstitute the city's atmosphere with boutiques and cultural places in the heart of the city, transport, a social mix, streets and lanes," said urban specialist Jean-Paul Lebas, who is working on the project.

"The city will be organised on European lines so that in a bistrot there you will find the same atmosphere as in a bistrot in Lyon," he added.

Thierry Valentin, deputy president of Lyon-2 University, said the new city, which will be about the size of the Latin Quarter in Paris, would be "a small city with the accent on the best of French culture, and particularly Lyon culture."

Besides housing, offices and hotels, Lyon-Dubai City will house a hotel school run by famed chef Paul Bocuse's institute, a French-language university offering masters in fashion, international law and economics, subsidiaries of Lyon's main museums, a cinematheque and a football training centre run by the Olympique Lyonnais.

The 300-400 hectare (741-988 acre) scheme, estimated at 500 million euros (740 million dollars), will be located either in an urban area near the Burj Dubai tower or in the desert near the emirate's planned second international airport.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h8uIdvT2pYypA9mNOHDOkDp02hVw

sounds great, but i somehow have the feeling this project doesn't fit with the usual projects in Dubai....

shouldnt they modernize the old downtown in deira and bur Dubai instead?

How tacky... :ohno:

The project, due to be completed in 2012, is being driven by businessman Saeed Al Gandhi who fell in love with France’s third biggest city after a visit to draw up plans for a French-language university in Dubai in partnership with the Lyon-2 campus.

He is due to sign a draft deal for the 500 million euro project next week with the city of Lyon.

Lyon-Dubai City, as the new area will be known, will contain public squares, restaurants, outdoor cafes and museums.

All the original Lyon’s gastronomic, cultural, sporting and economic institutions will be painstakingly replicated.

"The city will be organised on European lines so that in a bistrot there you will find the same atmosphere as in a bistrot in Lyon,” said urban specialist Jean-Paul Lebas, who is working on the project.

It is not clear whether the French smoking ban, in force since Jan 2, will be extended to the Dubai bistrots.

Thierry Valentin, deputy president of Lyon-2 University, said the new city, which will be about the size of the Latin Quarter in Paris, would be “a small city with the accent on the best of French culture, and particularly Lyon culture.”

Lyon-Dubai City will house a hotel school run by the institute of feted Lyon chef Paul Bocuse and a football training centre run by the Olympique Lyonnais team.

The Dubai project follows a multimillion pound deal last year in another Arab emirate, Abu Dhabi, to build an outpost of the Louvre museum, called Abu Dhabi Louvre .

http://uk.wrs.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9j8euxPDn9H7zABAx1QBQx.;_ylu=X3oDMTBjcXBoZjEwBHBvcwMzBHNlYwNzcg--/SIG=13fdhqsdb/EXP=1199595471/**http%3a//uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080104/twl-lifestyle-france-uae-architecture-he-3cd7efd.html

Dubai to get its own French city
AFP
AFP - Friday, January 4 02:57 pm

LYON, France (AFP) - After Abu Dhabi's deal for its own Louvre museum, Dubai is also going for the French touch with plans to build its version of Lyon, complete with cafes, cinemas and schools, according to Lyon officials.
(Advertisement)

Due to be completed by 2012, the project is the brainchild of a Dubai entrepreneur who fell in love with Lyon, one of the France's three biggest cities, after travelling there as part of plans for a French-language university in Dubai in partnership with Lyon-2 university.

Buti Saeed Al Gandhi, who heads investment capital firm Emivest, is expected to sign a draft accord next week between the French city and Dubai.

He wants to extend the university project into a huge district named Lyon-Dubai City that will be graced with public squares, restaurants, outdoor cafes and museums, and play host to the same gastronomic, cultural, sporting and economic institutions found in the French urban hub.

"We're not going to just copy the buildings and make a type of Lyon decor, but reinstitute the city's atmosphere with boutiques and cultural places in the heart of the city, transport, a social mix, streets and lanes," said urban specialist Jean-Paul Lebas, who is working on the project.

"The city will be organised on European lines so that in a bistrot there you will find the same atmosphere as in a bistrot in Lyon," he added.

Thierry Valentin, deputy president of Lyon-2 University, said the new city, which will be about the size of the Latin Quarter in Paris, would be "a small city with the accent on the best of French culture, and particularly Lyon culture."

Besides housing, offices and hotels, Lyon-Dubai City will house a hotel school run by famed chef Paul Bocuse's institute, a French-language university offering masters in fashion, international law and economics, subsidiaries of Lyon's main museums, a cinematheque and a football training centre run by the Olympique Lyonnais.

The 300-400 hectare (741-988 acre) scheme, estimated at 500 million euros (740 million dollars), will be located either in an urban area near the Burj Dubai tower or in the desert near the emirate's planned second international airport.

R

How tacky... :ohno:

Tacky? Dubai? Same sentence? Surely not.

How tacky... :ohno:


rather... How Dubai

rather... How Dubai

oh plz Mr Royal :lol:

what a random city to copy. hopefully this will get booted to abu dhabi with the ferrari theme park and other projects which cross the line of taste.

Due to be completed by 2012. :nuts: Why don't they build "Rome" in Dubai? Then we can truly mess up the phrase "Rome wasn't built in a day".

The will already have the coliseum at Falcon City :) all they need now is a Pope for the Vatican, any one want to offer their services ? :lol:

What the heck is this. :lol:

Lyon

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/3381/21687249952da1a4fcc6obh8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Will the churches with the massive crosses on top, replicated too?

Why? What's wrong with the Burj Al Arab? :runaway:

^^ There's no minister preaching and an altar ...

The will already have the coliseum at Falcon City :) all they need now is a Pope for the Vatican, any one want to offer their services ? :lol:

Isn't the current Pope German ... Bavarian to be more precise, wearing white and a tall hat "at work"?


... I think I know who'd be the right candidate. :runaway:

Yes good choice :lol:
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/6378/flobp7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

^^ And the Burj Al Arab on the background to keep Naz happy. :D

What the heck is this. :lol:


http://smartassery.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/bullshit.jpg

Another project which will make some news but never be built.

I bet that if it was ever built that it will just be town houses, tons of them that replicate "Lyon's architecture" but nothing more.

maybe a project in arabian canal? they could simulate the Rhône with the canal....

LYON, France (AFP) — A quirky project to recreate a French city in the desert emirate of Dubai was launched Wednesday in the muse in question -- the east-central city of Lyon.

"We are flattered that Lyon...can inspire a city like Dubai," Lyon's mayor Gerard Collomb said at a press conference.

The brainchild of Dubai entrepreneur and Lyon-aficionado Buti Saeed Al Gandhi, the project will not only recreate French urban basics -- houses and offices -- but also include a hotel school, a film library, subsidiaries of Lyon museums and a football training center run by Olympique Lyonnais.

"I have fallen in love with Lyon and I think this city has a lot to offer Dubai," said Gandhi, who argues the project's aim is not to reconstruct the French city but recreate its best elements, including its spirit.

Urban specialist Jean-Paul Lebat said some 3,000 homes are to be built during the first stage of the scheme, which first began with plans to build a French university in Dubai.

Estimated at 500 million euros (740 million dollars), the 300-400 hectare (741-988 acre) project will be located either in an urban area near the Burj Dubai tower or in the desert near the emirate's planned second international airport.

Lyon-Dubai City is the latest manifestation of Francophilia sweeping through the Emirates: fellow city-state Abu Dhabi recently struck a deal to build a Louvre museum spinoff at home.

I bet that if it was ever built that it will just be town houses, tons of them that replicate "Lyon's architecture" but nothing more.

Urban specialist Jean-Paul Lebat said some 3,000 homes are to be built during the first stage of the scheme


Looks like you are correct Omaro.

I knew it :D, seriously, I doubt they'd bother to make it as grand and unique as they announced initially, way too expensive and everyone knows that you cannot really copy a whole city, maybe by an image, but not the feel, atmosphere, ambience, etc etc etc (Mercato anyone? Falcon City? Heck, the Arab in looks but not in substance Madinat Jumeirah!)

Edit: Also, how can they imitate a French city with the climate here? :D

Uh this is such a Dubai thing to do. Some Emirati sees something French that he likes, and thinks that if he builds something like it back in the UAE that it will be exactly the same as it is in Lyon - except I'm sure they'll add a few malls and a worlds biggest ______.

It's only the second week of the new year but the creative minds of aspirational property developers have been ticking away - sparking what could be a return to the wacky project idea era that marked the early stages of Dubai's development boom.

A couple of press releases have been doing the rounds, announcing ideas that no longer leave residents of the emirate fazed, yet still manage to attract a fair amount of attention.

The first development is one hoping to replicate the look and feel of the French city of Lyon. To carry the awe-inspiring name of Lyon-Dubai City, the project will feature public squares, outdoor cafés and restaurants - not that there are many of those here.

One can't help but wonder if building another Paris in the desert might have been a more attractive option; although there must be a smidgen of market data out there somewhere suggesting that Lyon - and one that's in Dubai - is actually a sought-after place to live.

The second development made public this week was Isla Moda, otherwise known as Fashion Island.

To be built as part of The World, this debut into haute couture construction will feature a resort dedicated to fashion, themed villas and top-of-the-range shops, sorry, boutiques.

With this in mind, it would appear that the small matter of rising construction costs - something else that has made the news since the turn of the new year - has eluded some developers.

It's a shame the same can't be said for contractors.

Those in construction are feeling the pinch of inflation on a monthly basis.

The price rises are no longer confined to building materials; the cost of housing workers is going up all the time, while overall recruitment has become
more expensive.

VAT and a possible minimum wage will also add to the burden.

Talk of negotiating price escalation clauses into contracts emerges whenever contractors are asked about how they might be shielded from price hikes.

Now could be the time for a serious revision of the terms and conditions to balance financial risk more evenly.

And it might be the only way projects like Isla Moda and Lyon-Dubai will ever get off the drawing board.

Looks like this is quite a serious proposal.


The Lyon king of Dubai

The beauty, the ambience, the je-ne-sais-quoi of the French city: All will blossom in the desert if 40-year-old businessman Buti Saeed al-Ghandi realizes his dream.

By ELAINE SCIOLINO, Lyon Journal

Last update: February 2, 2008 - 4:41 PM

Strolling the streets of Lyon with his wife in October, Buti Saeed al-Ghandi was suddenly overcome by a double wave of love, for the city and for his spouse.

So Ghandi, a 40-year-old entrepreneur, decided to capture the magic of the moment by building a little Lyon -- back home in Dubai.

"I travel all around the world, and Lyon is one of those places that make you feel different," Ghandi said in a telephone interview. "The people do not live at a fast pace of life. There is an intimacy with visitors. There is so much history and culture, the small streets, the small shops, the old houses. I also fell in love again with my wife there, and that's also why I love Lyon."

Certainly Lyon -- with its two rivers, its Gallic-Roman ruins, its 300 Renaissance merchant houses and its gastronomic reputation -- is special, even in France.

In January, Ghandi, chairman of Emirates Investment and Development, signed a memorandum of understanding with Lyon's mayor and several local entities to embark on a grand architectural adventure for Dubai, one of the seven principalities that make up the United Arab Emirates.

The project, temporarily called Lyon-Dubai City, will include a university; small versions of Lyon's main museums; housing, hotel and office space; cafes, restaurants, pedestrian malls, town squares, courtyards, a film center, maybe even a church, all inspired by Lyon, France's third-largest city. As of now, little Lyon will cover 750 to 1,000 acres, more or less the size of New York's Central Park.

The Paul Bocuse Institute is hoping to set up a branch to train chefs, along with restaurant and hotel managers. The Museum of Textiles is poised to open a silk museum and lend select treasures from its vast silk collection. Lyon's soccer team has signed up to operate a center to train a Dubai team. Research is underway to cool outdoor spaces to make strolling bearable during dust storms and 105-degree heat.

What the project must not do, its participants insist, is clone Lyon.

"This will not be Disneyland or Las Vegas," said Jean-Paul Lebas, the project's planner, who helped rebuild Beirut after Lebanon's civil war. "We have to make people feel that they are there without copying the architecture of Lyon -- that is the challenge. The social will be more important than the physical. The smiles seen on the faces of others will come first."

Mayor Gerard Collomb was more direct. "We will give Dubai the soul of Lyon," he said.

Ghandi, who was born in Dubai and studied at George Washington University in Washington, first discovered Lyon in May when he came to close a deal with the University of Lyon to open a French-language branch in a university complex in the emirate. The university will open in September with 300 to 400 students.

It was during a second trip that the city itself became a source of inspiration that has captured his imagination.

The over-the-top rococo decor, grand scale, golden mosaics and vaulted ceilings of the 19th-century hilltop Notre-Dame de Fourviere basilica, for example, have gotten him thinking about building a similar church. It would be set next to a mosque.

"I saw certain elements in the church that related to Islam," Ghandi said. "I felt like I was walking into a mosque."

He and others acknowledge they are making it up as they go along. "A mosque next to a church? Why not?" asked Lebas.

Recently Lebas was in Dubai looking at three possible sites: an urban area near the Burj Dubai tower (which aims to be the tallest building in the world); a patch of desert near the planned second international airport, and Dubailand, a $10 billion complex of theme parks and entertainment areas under construction that Lebas describes as "worse than Disneyland, Disneyland 1,000-times squared."

Then there is the issue of alcohol and pork, both forbidden under Islam. Pork-based charcuterie is a staple of Lyon's traditional gastronomy, while wine is crucial to French dining.

Dubai, unlike many places in the Muslim Middle East, has a relatively open attitude on this, although there are restrictions during the month of Ramadan. Pork is sold in "Western oriented" markets and in special sections of butchers' markets, and is served in certain restaurants.

As for wine? "It is completely possible to achieve refined cuisine without alcohol," Bocuse said in an e-mail message, adding that many fine recipes "are elaborated with a base of cream and butter."

For Ghandi, there should be no gastronomic or alcoholic censure. "It's not an issue," he said. "We are an international city in Dubai. You give people the freedom to do what they like to do."

Certainly the project is expected to be a windfall for Lyon. France's $1.3 billion deal last year to rent the name of the Louvre and lend some of its works to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the emirates, is clearly on the minds of officials here.

Collomb hopes the project will work as a vehicle to attract wealthy investors from Dubai. He dreams of turning the crumbling 375,000-square-foot Hotel-Dieu, a hospital with a glorious 18th-century facade, into a luxury hotel. "Its dome is majestic," he said. "Maybe we'll seal a deal the next visit."

He notes that Lyon is among the world's top 30 convention cities, ahead of Chicago. Reader's Digest last year named Lyon the "seventh most livable city" in the world.

Not everyone in Lyon is convinced of the wisdom of the project, though.

"It's hard for me to imagine how you can capture the soul of the city," said Jacques Lasfargues, an archaeologist and chief curator at the Museum of Gallic-Roman Civilization. "The color of the light here is tender, soft, sweet, like a painting of Turner. In the desert, the light is hard, brutal. The rivers -- they are part of our soul. I prefer the ambience of Las Vegas. At least there's sincerity. One knows clearly what it is."

Collomb will not be deterred. "Dubai already has built ski slopes and islands," he said. "And if you can do that, you can make rivers."

Dubai, unlike many places in the Muslim Middle East, has a relatively open attitude on this, although there are restrictions during the month of Ramadan. Pork is sold in "Western oriented" markets and in special sections of butchers' markets, and is served in certain restaurants.

As for wine? "It is completely possible to achieve refined cuisine without alcohol," Bocuse said in an e-mail message, adding that many fine recipes "are elaborated with a base of cream and butter."

For Ghandi, there should be no gastronomic or alcoholic censure. "It's not an issue," he said. "We are an international city in Dubai. You give people the freedom to do what they like to do."

Certainly the project is expected to be a windfall for Lyon. France's $1.3 billion deal last year to rent the name of the Louvre and lend some of its works to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the emirates, is clearly on the minds of officials here.

Collomb hopes the project will work as a vehicle to attract wealthy investors from Dubai. He dreams of turning the crumbling 375,000-square-foot Hotel-Dieu, a hospital with a glorious 18th-century facade, into a luxury hotel. "Its dome is majestic," he said. "Maybe we'll seal a deal the next visit."

He notes that Lyon is among the world's top 30 convention cities, ahead of Chicago. Reader's Digest last year named Lyon the "seventh most livable city" in the world.

Not everyone in Lyon is convinced of the wisdom of the project, though.

"It's hard for me to imagine how you can capture the soul of the city," said Jacques Lasfargues, an archaeologist and chief curator at the Museum of Gallic-Roman Civilization. "The color of the light here is tender, soft, sweet, like a painting of Turner. In the desert, the light is hard, brutal. The rivers -- they are part of our soul. I prefer the ambience of Las Vegas. At least there's sincerity. One knows clearly what it is."

Collomb will not be deterred. "Dubai already has built ski slopes and islands," he said. "And if you can do that, you can make rivers."

This could finaly be something for al Merkad and the Dubai Camel Racecourse if the build it close to Burj Dubai

First Published 2008-04-30, Last Updated 2008-05-01 08:35:39
http://i28.tinypic.com/abquko.jpg
An artist's drawing of Abu Dhabi’s Sorbonne

Emirate of Dubai to get French university

Dubai to get its 'Lyon' university following in footsteps of Abu Dhabi which hosts branch of Sorbonne.

DUBAI - The booming Gulf emirate of Dubai will get a French university, following in the footsteps of oil-rich Abu Dhabi which hosts a branch of the prestigious Sorbonne university, promoters said on Tuesday.

The university will start offering courses in January 2009 and will be part of a project to build a district modelled after the French city of Lyon in Dubai, a member of the United Arab Emirates.

Thierry Valentin, vice president of Lyon 2 university which will oversee the French university of Dubai, said that it will initially offer a limited number of courses, including intensive French-language courses.

Degrees in economics, law, finance, management, human resources and Arab studies will be among those offered by the university starting in the 2009-2010 academic year.

Valentin said the university, a project conceived by the Emirates Investment and Development (Emivest) group, would initially be located in a district housing several educational establishments.

It will eventually relocate to Lyon-Dubai City, a commercial and residential district modelled after the French city of Lyon that will be built around 2012.

Abu Dhabi, the UAE's wealthiest member and capital, has hosted an outpost of the Sorbonne since October 2006, the first of its kind in the world.

The establishment of French universities in the UAE's two main emirates is a rare event in the Gulf, where the English-speaking powers have traditionally been dominant.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/features/?id=25610

Dubai Municipality acting DG meets with French mayor

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/images/magazines/arabianbusiness.com/web/meeting_thumb.jpg


Dubai Municipality has announced that Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, acting director general of Dubai Municipality, yesterday received Gérard Collomb, mayor of Lyon, France at his office in Dubai.

The parties discussed ways of cooperation between Dubai and Lyon in fields related to construction, historic buildings and landscaping, a statement said.

Lootah briefed the French delegation on tasks of the Municipality including town planning, city beautification, and overseeing building and construction activities in the Emirate.The meeting followed reports in February that an investment company was seeking to develop a district in Dubai recreating France's third's largest city.

The area, to be called Lyon-Dubai City, would feature public squares, restaurants, and outdoor cafes, according to details on the project released at the time.

Lyon is settled in a place where to river meet (Rhoen and Saone) and where tow hills stand: Fourviere and Croix Rousse...Now, I know they can created the Rhone and the Saone and whatever river they want in Dubai, but what about the hills?

Dubai-Lyon city development on track
By Suzanne Fenton, Staff Reporter
Published: May 02, 2008, 00:30


Dubai: Development of the 700-hectare Dubai-Lyon city is on track, according to French delegates overseeing the project.

Jean Paul Lebas, urban planner for Dubai-Lyon city, said: "We are exactly on time for phase one."

He said the project started last January with three main objectives.

"First, to recreate in Dubai a Lyon urban atmosphere that is not pastiche.

"Also, to acquire a specific position in real estate that is totally oriented towards art, culture and education, and finally, to have a sustainable development," said Lebas.

At around 700 hectares, the Dubai-Lyon city is approximately the same size as the Latin Quarter in Paris or Nakheel's Waterfront development in Jebel Ali.:nuts:

The project is being managed by Lyon municipality and Emirates and Investment Company (Emivest).


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


It will incorporate seven Lyon institutions transplanted in Dubai. They include the University of Lyon 2, Lyon Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Institut Paul Bocuse hotel management school, the Olympique Lyonnais-managed OL soccer Academy, the EM Lyon business school, the Fabric Museum and the Institut Lumiere.

:banana:holy crap! as big as the waterfront?? :nuts:where is this located?:banana:

I suspect it might be either Arabian Canal or right of Dubailand opposite Dubai Outlet Mall, Tijara Town, etc. on Al Ain Road. But if they want to simulate the Rhône they should go for the Arabian Canal...

I do not want the Paris-Lyon city to get constructed. It is a waste of money and a waste of space and I hope it ends up a never built project.

You don't even know what the project will look like...

err... Isnt it expected to look like Lyon?

In Lyon, we eat a lot of pork and we drink wine and beer, so Lyon without it will not be good

^^ Yea, this is why its called Lyon-Dubai City.

Now go back to ur JBC thread !

In Lyon, we eat a lot of pork and we drink wine and beer, so Lyon without it will not be good

Pork is sold in most supermarkets, on special counters that have a big "Pork products - Not for Muslims" tag. Wine and beer are served on licenced establishments, or can be purchased on special outlets, against a licence that can be obtained by non-muslim residents.


... so yeah, go back to your JBC thread.

yap

another project never built,only to increase status of dubai[we are not mad as is assumed]

^^ Any source buddy !

Pretty interesting sounding project! can't wait to see the pics.

According to the French Newspaper "Le Parisiens", this project is still on track despite the current situation:nuts:

http://info.sfr.fr/insolite/articles/traboules-lyonnaises-bientot-reproduites-a-Dubai,127668/

http://www.kreaction.com/#/films/project_twelve_reel

A video, but no details really...

According to the French Newspaper "Le Parisiens", this project is still on track despite the current situation:nuts:

http://info.sfr.fr/insolite/articles/traboules-lyonnaises-bientot-reproduites-a-Dubai,127668/

Without "S" for "Le ParisieN"

oh i remember hearing about this a few years back! a bit weird to recreate an entire city. i had heard they were going to try and hire local Lyonnais folks to make it more authentic.. in the middle of the desert. again, bizarre.

i assume the project has been called off since there's been no further updates for over a year now...