Dubai shrouded in fog. The Atlantic's Alexis Madrigal puts it perfectly: "I don't know that I've ever seen a city look more like 'the future' than this one at this moment." All that's missing is Lando Calrissian.


Urban consultant Noah Raford tweeted this pic while on a trip to Dubai, high above the haze. All that's left are the crowns of Dubai's innumerable skyscraper, poking through like starships in a nebula. There's an ugly side to the emirate's urban explosion—sprawl, human rights abuses, pollution—but I can't think of anywhere else on earth that feels like Sim City 2000 brought to life. In the middle of the desert. [Noah Raford via The Atlantic]