Dubai has managed to roar back from over-extension, severe debt, and some world humiliation. This furthered the zeal for the spectacular and a leadership role in regional construction, transportation, tourism and consumption. All kinds of affluent people, including well-off expats or foreign buyers, have got in on the speculation. A downside of hectic tearing down and building back is the continuous displacement of residents, destruction of ‘traditional’ neighborhoods, and an imposition of a fractured urban form. It also means a loss of history, including the modernist structures, albeit some very ordinary and non-descript, that bespeak actual lives as well as tastes and craft of the prior years. Dubai acts as showcase for the downside of turning urban environments into assets for generating rent.