Cityscape: Cool, calm, collected

Last year, Cityscape Abu Dhabi was characterised by a black market for tickets that emerged in the hallways of the exhibition centre and the fact that guards had to restrain a mob of speculators at the Aldar stand.

But those days are over. Cityscape is now exactly what it started out as - a business-to-business conference for people involved in the property sector. The discussion is about survival in the market. Two press conferences out of five have been devoted to telling reporters what percentage of their sewage works and electrical wiring has been completed. (Exciting!)

I remember last year that Cityscape was a journalist's worst nightmare, with huge stories breaking on every corner. There were more multi-billion dirham project launches than I could count on both hands. Now, thankfully, the event has gained a bit of reality.

That is not to say that developers have skimped out this year. There at least a dozen multi-storey stalls and some developers have included ultra-high tech gadgets to impress people. Al Qudra Real Estate, for instance, has an interactive screen where you can walk around one of its developments in Al Ain just by using your hand.

Developers, brokers and regular passersby have described the mood simply as "guarded optimism". If one thing is clear, it is that the market has returned from outer orbit.

Check out all of The National's Cityscape coverage here.

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Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi talks with with Joe Ong, CEO of Tamouh Investments, while looking at a scale model of Reem Island. Jaime Puebla / The National