But now the enormous real estate bubble of the sheikhs, oligarchs and neo-capitalist financiers has burst. The international economic crisis has caught up with the nouveau-riche high flyers in the Middle East and Asia who, until recently, had gloatingly watched the collapse of the West, where one skyscraper project after the next has been abandoned. But now the brakes are also being put on one construction project after another in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Russia.

but…

Perhaps the deceleration brought on by the financial crisis will trigger a change in attitudes. Perhaps the energy-saving factor will be the strongest selling point in the future, and perhaps a new aesthetic of environmentally friendly simplicity will develop as a result. Or maybe not.

for example…

Certainly there is some projects to look forward to. There is Dubai’s Xeritown, “a novel example of man and nature working in harmony, an entire town is to be built along a north-south axis to take advantage of cool breezes blowing in off the sea.”

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/dubious-dubai-hits-pause.php