Business

How Dubai’s “Work from Park” initiative turns public parks into workspaces

The Work from Park initiative puts bookable workspaces inside Dubai’s public parks, starting with Al Barsha Pond Park. Dubai Municipality announced the programme on 19 April 2026 and said it had signed two memoranda of cooperation to deliver it. One went to Group AMANA, which builds the units, and the other to Letswork LLC, which operates them.

Entrepreneurs, freelancers, small and medium-sized enterprises

The structure is a public-private partnership. Dubai Municipality provides the park and the mandate. Private firms handle design, construction, and daily operation. The municipality said the model gives the private sector a route into public facilities while each site keeps its role as a park.

Target users are entrepreneurs, freelancers, small and medium-sized enterprises, and anyone doing remote work in Dubai. Content creators get dedicated production rooms, which the municipality said are meant to strengthen their place in the emirate’s creative economy.

Letswork runs the booking side. Users reserve space through the Letswork app, check in on arrival and use one membership across the company’s network of venues. The offer covers desks by the hour, event space, podcast recording and production rooms for creators. Letswork will also run training programmes and group sessions for creative talent and new businesses.

How the Work from Park initiative is built

Group AMANA delivers the first site through its DuBox unit. DuBox builds the workspace modules in a factory, then transports them to the park and assembles them on site. The municipality said this shortens the build schedule, reduces waste and lowers the environmental footprint compared with conventional construction. Units can be reconfigured later as demand shifts.

The Al Barsha Pond Park site was scheduled to open in May 2026. Letswork now lists it as a bookable venue on its platform. The listing describes modular pods with high-speed Wi-Fi, power and climate-controlled seating, plus podcast studios and creative production rooms. Members can book day passes, meeting rooms and private offices under one Letswork membership.

Dubai Municipality said the Work from Park initiative would add more sites across the emirate later in 2026. Locations and opening dates for those have yet to be confirmed.

Bader Anwahi, CEO of the Public Facilities Agency at Dubai Municipality, said the partnerships combine advanced construction methods with private sector expertise to produce public infrastructure “that is flexible, sustainable, and aligned with modern lifestyles and work patterns.”

Richard Abboud, CEO of Group AMANA, said modular construction lets the company build efficient, adaptable units at speed.

Why the Work from Park initiative fits Dubai’s planning goals

The programme sits under three policy frameworks. Dubai’s 2040 Parks and Greenery Strategy targets 95 million park visits a year by 2040. Land use falls under the Dubai Urban Plan 2040. Economic targets through 2033 come from the Dubai Economic Agenda D33.

Omar AlMheiri, co-founder of Letswork, said the partnership would add dedicated creative spaces and podcast studios. He described it as a step toward changing where and how people in the UAE do flexible work.

Dubai Municipality describes the Work from Park initiative as the first of its kind. Existing Dubai coworking spaces operate from office towers, hotels and retail sites. This programme moves the format onto municipal parkland, with the municipality as host and a private platform as operator.

Outdoor workspaces in Dubai face one obvious constraint: summer heat. The Letswork listing addresses this with climate-controlled seating inside the pods. Demand across a full year of operation will show whether the format holds. The second site, once announced, will be the next signal of how fast the municipality intends to scale.

By Yousef Haddad
3 min read

Global Village Dubai

Global Village Season 31 opening date: what Dubai visitors should know

Dubai’s Global Village Season 31 opening date has not been confirmed, though the park is expected to return in October 2026. Season 30 closed on May 31, 2026, starting the annual summer break. Global Village usually reopens in mid-October, once the worst of the heat eases.

Season 31 will bring back cultural pavilions, food stalls, shopping areas, rides, and live shows. Much of the site sits outdoors, so summer temperatures make normal operations hard. During the closure, teams handle maintenance and prepare new attractions for the year ahead.

When Global Village Season 31 opening date lands

An exact opening day remains unannounced. Global Village’s website points to October 2026 for the return. Last year offers a guide. Season 30 opened on October 15, 2025, and opening ceremonies tend to fall on a Wednesday near the middle of the month. On that pattern, the gates could open around mid-October, subject to official confirmation. Based on past years, some coverage points to Wednesday, October 14, or Wednesday, October 21, as candidates. Neither is official. Fans watching for the Global Village Season 31 opening date should expect news closer to the launch.

Season 30 ran longer than planned. Earlier in the year, the park paused for a short period during regional uncertainty tied to the conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran. It reopened on April 20, 2026, once conditions improved, then wrapped on May 31. Season 30 also marked the park’s 30th anniversary, one of its longest runs to date.

Global Village reopens in October 2026 and the season ahead

Once the park returns, it runs through the cooler months. That window makes it one of Dubai’s main seasonal outdoor destinations. Global Village reopening in October 2026 keeps it in step with previous years. Ticket details, including the Global Village Season 31 ticket sale date, have not been published. An official Global Village Season 31 opening date should arrive before the gates open.

Reaching the park is straightforward. Drivers use Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road, and RTA buses serve the site from several metro stations throughout the season. Guests from Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and the Northern Emirates travel in on the main highway network.

Global Village mixes entertainment, shopping, food and culture from around the world in one place. It first welcomed visitors during the Dubai Shopping Festival and moved to its permanent home in 2005. In its early years, pavilions stood in tent-like structures. Before the move, the attraction sat in Oud Metha, near Wafi City.

What visitors find inside

Today the site is split into regions covering the Middle East and North Africa, Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas and South Asia. A Carnaval zone holds more than 200 rides, games and attractions. Food runs from around 200 to 250 outlets, including about 24 restaurants and cafés and more than 170 street-food kiosks. Shoppers reach over 3,500 outlets selling goods from many countries. Gates usually open in the late afternoon and run into the night.

Global Village Dubai tickets and free entry

Global Village Dubai tickets have long ranked among the city’s more affordable options, with entry starting near Dh25. Entry stays free for children under three, senior citizens, and people of determination, subject to current terms. For anyone planning the Global Village 2026 season, pricing and hours should follow the official opening announcement.

By Yousef Haddad
3 min read

Museum of the Future

Museum of the Future closure begins September 1 before 2027 Dubai relaunch

Dubai’s Museum of the Future closure takes effect on September 1, when the landmark torus on Sheikh Zayed Road shuts its current galleries for the biggest overhaul since it opened in February 2022. Reopening is planned for the first quarter of 2027, timed to the museum’s fifth anniversary. The site sits in the city’s financial district, near Emirates Towers. Visitors have a short window left. Current exhibits stay open until the closure, after which work begins on an entirely new set of galleries.

What the Museum of the Future closure means for visitors

Timed-entry passes remain the only way in, and Museum of the Future tickets tend to sell out days ahead even in normal months. Word of the Museum of the Future closure has driven a late rush for slots. Free entry applies to some categories of visitors, who collect passes at the customer service desk rather than booking online. Emirates Towers station on the Dubai Metro Red Line sits closest, linked to the building by a direct bridge. Most guests spend two to three hours moving through the floors, so a fixed entry time and an early arrival help on busy days.

The building as the first exhibit

Its structure draws crowds before anyone steps inside. A stainless steel shell wraps around a hollow center, shaped as a ring with no columns and no conventional facade. Arabic calligraphy covers the exterior, drawn from words written by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, with the windows formed by the letters themselves. Seven floors sit inside, and the visitor route runs from the top down, opening at a near-future space station theme.

Unlike traditional institutions built around permanent collections, the Museum of the Future Dubai was designed to reinvent itself. Its exhibitions refresh in step with advances in technology, science and global innovation. That model explains the current shutdown. Rather than an interruption, the Museum of the Future renovation follows the plan the venue set from the start. Run by the Dubai Future Foundation, the site treats reinvention as routine.

New experiences due in 2027

Specific exhibits have not been detailed yet. Museum staff say the refreshed content will draw on ideas from more than 1,000 contributors worldwide, gathered through an earlier global call for input. Current galleries cover artificial intelligence, space exploration, climate, health and sustainability, themes that track the UAE’s push into innovation and economic diversification. Plans for the Museum of the Future reopening in 2027 remain limited in public detail, and further information is expected through official channels closer to the relaunch. Museum leaders have framed the work as the start of a new chapter rather than a farewell.

Final days before the shutdown

September 1 stands as the Museum of the Future’s closing date for current galleries. Some earlier reports pointed to a mid-September closure, but the museum’s late-August campaign, titled See it before the 1st, supports the earlier date. Once the doors shut, the Museum of the Future closure will run for months while crews install the next generation of interactive spaces. Millions have passed through since 2022, drawn by one of Dubai’s most photographed buildings. For Dubai, the timing lands as the emirate pushes its standing as a hub for tourism, innovation and future-facing investment. That run pauses now, with a reinvented experience promised for 2027.

By Yousef Haddad
3 min read

Yousef Haddad