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Everything You Were Told About Dubai Is Probably Wrong
Kelly Robinson
Kelly Robinson
And New York Is Not What It Pretends to Be
I live and work in Dubai.
I also live and work in New York.
This combination makes people squint, and then ask questions that sound like a wellness check.
One side thinks I joined a futuristic tax cult.
The other thinks New York is sacred and must never be criticized, even when it is actively on fire.
Both are wrong. Both are right.
And yes, real estate is the reason I am working on opposite sides of the planet.
Let’s start with the dramatic one.
No, women are not oppressed here.
No, I do not need a male chaperone.
No, I am not whispering this from a hidden room.
Yes, I walk alone at night without my keys in between my fingers like a medieval weapon.
Dubai is one of the safest cities I have ever lived in. That single fact breaks a lot of Western brains.
Freedom is not only about how loudly you can yell at the Starbucks barista for misspelling your name. Sometimes it is about how little you have to worry.
Photo Credit: Andrew Prokos
Photo Credit: Two Traveling Texans
Yes, there are billionaires.
Yes, there are influencers doing math that does not math.
But mostly there are normal professionals living normal lives with good infrastructure and surprisingly efficient government systems.
Dubai is expats, engineers, bankers, creatives, startup founders, families, and people who like their taxes low and their streets functional.
If you think the whole city is yachts and champagne, that likely says a lot about your Instagram algorithm.
This one always escalates quickly.
No, you are not going to jail for having a glass of wine.
No, you are not going to jail for holding hands.
No, you are not going to jail because you wore shorts.
No, you don’t have to have your head covered unless you are in a Mosque, and that feels reasonable to me.
Dubai is conservative in some ways and extremely pragmatic in others. The rules are clear. Enforcement is consistent. If you behave like an adult, you will be fine.
This is very different from cities where laws are vibes and enforcement depends on the mood of the person throwing the tantrum.
This one usually comes from someone standing in a city where half the buildings are empty and the subway smells like regret and spilled ambition.
Yes, Dubai is new.
Yes, it was built fast.
No, it does not have 400 year old staircases with emotional baggage.
But it works. And when it doesn’t, it usually gets fixed quickly, not debated for three years in committee.
Efficiency is not fake. It’s just unfamiliar if you’re used to dysfunction wearing a heritage label.
Dubai is efficient by design, but uneven in execution.
It is spectacular at big systems and occasionally feral at small ones.
Government processes are fast. Visas, business setup, renewals, licensing, and documentation are designed to be completed, not endured. You can often fix things digitally, quickly, and with an actual human involved.
Safety is not theoretical. Rules are clear, enforcement is consistent, and that lowers the mental tax of daily life.
Digital infrastructure is real. Government apps work. Payments are fast. Paper is optional. Systems talk to each other.
Execution at scale is fast. Roads get resurfaced. Buildings get approved. If something is embarrassing, it gets removed, not debated.
This is efficiency at the macro level.
Daily logistics can be chaos.
Deliveries involve five WhatsApps, three people who are “five minutes away,” and one person who never arrives.
Building management is a coin toss. Some buildings are run like Swiss banks. Others feel like group projects where no one showed up sober.
Urban planning is aspirational. Traffic appears suddenly. Walkability exists in pockets. Shade is theoretical.
Service quality is inconsistent. Luxury does not equal competence. You can be in a five star building and still explain the same thing six times.
Dubai is incredible at big things and unreliable at small ones. This is why newcomers are confused.
NYC vs Dubai: An Efficiency Comparison No One Asked For
Let’s be honest.
Dubai wins. Not even close.
New York treats paperwork like a rite of passage. Dubai treats it like a task.
Dubai wins.
New York has energy. Dubai has predictability. One lets you relax. The other keeps your head on a swivel.
Dubai wins on newness and speed.
New York wins on density and walkability.
Dubai builds fast. New York debates beautifully.
New York wins here.
Deliveries arrive. Buildings function. Schedules mostly mean something.
Dubai can feel like a luxury city run on WhatsApp and spirit.
New York wins on history.
Dubai wins on global layering.
One is rooted. The other is assembled. Both are real.
Photo Credit: QualityGovernmentCenter.com
Photo Credit: BusinessInsider.com
Here is the real differentiator.
New York can function in a full blown blizzard.
Trains run. Trash gets picked up. People complain, but life continues.
Dubai cannot function with a sprinkle.
A light rain hits and suddenly:
Traffic forgets how lanes work
Accidents appear instantly
People panic like water just arrived on Earth
This is not a flaw. It is context.
New York was built to survive chaos.
Dubai was built to avoid it.
Different muscles. Different outcomes.
Photo Credit: Asahi.com
Photo Credit: Life.com
Let’s be honest. This is why I’m working across hemispheres.
Photo Credit: WorldMapWithMajorCountries.GitHub.io
New York is slow money. Defensive money. Long game money.
Returns come from:
Scarcity
Global trust
Long term appreciation
Rental resilience
It is capital preservation disguised as housing.
It is hard. It is regulated. It is expensive.
And it works over time if you buy correctly.
Dubai is velocity money.
Returns come from:
Price arbitrage
Tax efficiency
Rental yields that actually cash flow
A constantly refreshing buyer pool
Dubai rewards timing, not patience.
It is cyclical, opportunistic, and brutally honest.
You can make money quickly.
You can also overpay quickly.
Photo Credit. SolProperties.ae
Photo Credit: CovetHouse.eu
New York is where wealth hides.
Dubai is where it multiplies.
One is a vault.
The other is a growth engine.
Anyone pretending you have to choose has not looked at the math.
Final Sip
Dubai is efficient and chaotic.
New York is dysfunctional and resilient.
Dubai excels at ambition, safety, speed, and global capital.
New York excels at durability, density, culture, and surviving literally anything.
Dubai shuts down in the rain.
New York shrugs at a blizzard.
Both cities make sense.
Just not always to the same people.
And if you’re working globally, you don’t need to romanticize either. You just need to understand what each one is actually good at.
Stay tuned for next month’s post: Dubai Is Judging You Too
Photo Credit: Andrew Prokos
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