"Build it and they will come." Motivated by these words, Ray Kinsella (played by Kevin Costner) built a baseball field in the middle of nowhere to attract the ghosts of the game's legends in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams.
But it's an Arabian dream that is becoming a glittering reality on a mere 4 000 km² of desert in the Gulf region - about one-fifth the size of Gauteng.
WHAT IT MEANS
 State companies build ruler's vision
Dubai's property boom has momentum
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In less than 30 years Dubai, one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has evolved into the world's fastest growing city (or city-state): with GDP growth rates of 16% last year and in 2004, it is expanding at almost double the rate of China, the world's fastest growing country.
And as Dubai builds to keep up with the breakneck speed of its economy so they are coming: almost 1m expatriate workers, 6m tourists a year, thousands of wealthy private investors buying into the numerous luxury developments, and, most crucially, global corporations that are making Dubai their local, regional or international trading base.
Much has been written about Dubai's economic success and how it has used its oil wealth to become a trading hub - oil now accounts for a mere 6% of the economy. In contrast, other countries in the region with considerably more oil resources have remained single-resource states.
Dubai's transition to a regional and, increasingly global, trading hub has far more to do with the deep pockets and simple vision of the ruling Al Maktoum family: make it easy and cheap for companies to do business and they will come.
The incumbent ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, in particular, is credited with the economic foresight that fuels the 200 000 Emiratis in their headlong rush to prosperity. And, given that Dubai has no democratic elections, getting the vision implemented is not encumbered by having to satisfy different social or special interest groups.
In any case, the Emiratis appear completely unified behind Sheikh Mohammed and his paternalistic approach to government. "I have no doubt whatsoever that we will achieve the vision. That is what drives us," says Abdullah bin Suwaidan, a deputy manager at the Dubai department of tourism & commerce marketing. "We want to keep our city open and make it attractive and secure for business and commerce."
Clearly it takes a lot more than a good idea to achieve 16% growth. The ruling family has built up a network of companies, controlled by members of the family or close allies, who make the vision a reality. Emirates Airlines, one of the fastest growing airlines in the world, is playing a crucial role in getting tourists and business visitors to Dubai.
On the property front, Dubai has created three companies that are converting the building vision into a glitzy, glamorous reality - Dubai Property, Dubai World and Emaar. The exact shareholdings are not known, but the Dubai government - through Dubai Holdings - is clearly an influential shareholder, though there are private investors as well.
Though executives at Dubai World insist there is competition for projects, there are plenty of developments to go around. (See infographic).
And, according to recent pronouncements by Sheikh Mohammed, the projects currently on the drawing board and in construction will be only 10% of what he plans for Dubai in the long term.
Even that 10% seems ambitious, though. It will see the number of skyscrapers more than triple before the end of the decade - Dubai is already said to be home to 40% of the world's high-rise cranes as its buildings reach ever higher into the sky.
The number of tourism-orientated projects will also increase and in 2007 alone Dubai plans to add 40% more capacity to its 40 000 hotel rooms. Of the 40-50 new hotels being built, eight will be five-star or higher.
More will follow as the emirate anticipates the number of tourists reaching 15m by 2010 compared with 6m last year. The current occupancy level at Dubai hotels is about 90% - among the highest in the world.
Tourists are being wooed by one gargantuan project after another. In addition to its shopping culture, Dubai has started to build leisure centres to attract more visitors - the world's only in-house ski-slopes is one of them.
But projects like these will be overshadowed by the new plans on the drawing board, including a US$14bn culture village and Dubailand, a project that promises to rival Disneyworld.
There also seems to be an insatiable appetite by local and foreign investors for residential property. An estimated 300 000 new houses and apartments are in the pipeline for the next few years.
Dubai's timing has been fortunate as its building boom has coincided with a rush into global property, driven by low interest rates. Arab investors in particular are attracted by the glitz and glamour of Dubai so lacking in their own countries. In the wake of the fallout from the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks, they have also been made unwelcome in the US and some European states, and have subsequently withdrawn and withheld investments from these regions.
The property and investment boom is perhaps best embodied by Palm Islands, the cluster of man-made islands off Dubai's short, 75 km coastline, which provide the ultimate in luxury living. Demand for property on the three islands - Jumeirah, Jebel Ali and Deira, each built in the shape of a palm tree - is such that $32bn-worth of real estate has already been sold, according to developers Nakheel, an arm of Dubai World.
But the most ambitious project to date is The World, a $1,8bn creation of 300 islands that, when completed in 2008, will resemble the shape of the world.
According to the SA-educated CE of Nakheel, James Wilson, well over half of the islands have already been sold, though he won't reveal the identity of the buyers. Singer Rod Stewart has reportedly bought "Britain" for a cool $30m - even before the foundation of his home has been laid. This is not for millionaires. "Billionaires and royalty now have a new winter holiday home," is how the marketing material sells it.
Wilson says the islands will add 1 700 km of coastline to Dubai, which he estimates will house at least 200 hotels over the next few years. The Palm Jumeirah, which is nearly complete, will be home to a new hotel by US entrepreneur Donald Trump, and the second Atlantis project of SA tycoon Sol Kerzner. Other hotel ventures include Hydropolis, the world's first underwater hotel.
The boom in hotels and upmarket investment properties has been facilitated by a 2002 freehold property law that finally permitted foreigners to own property in Dubai - in certain projects only. All new Nakheel ventures, among others, carry freehold property rights and an estimated half of the flats sold in the city have been bought by international buyers and speculators.
IFA, the Kuwait-based developer that is selling many of the Palm Jumeirah properties, says properties on the island are already changing hands for many times the original price.
The huge scale of current and imminent developments, though, has raised fears that the boom is simply not sustainable - particularly as it is starting to be emulated by other emirates as well as neighbours in the Gulf region, notably Oman, Bahrain and Qatar.
There is evidence that prices will start to level off next year, but optimists point to projections that Dubai's population will increase from an estimated 1,6m at present to 4,5m by 2020, of which 90% will be foreigners. And businesses continue to flood into Dubai, attracted by its zero corporate tax rates and dedicated infrastructure projects. For now Dubai has the critical mass behind it and its vision looks, once again, set to be translated into glitzy reality.
