New York architect, Danny Forster, of Danny Forster Design Studio, claims Dubai made a big mistake in copying other cities that have high rise buildings.

In a report by the Manila Bulletin, he said the most exciting thing for him is seeing buildings that are really, truly born out of their place.

“Dubai is a city that had an opportunity, and rather than investigate their own history, their own culture, they tried to become Tokyo. They tried to become Shanghai. And I think that’s a huge mistake,” he said.

“What’s most exciting for me is to see what I call site-specific buildings—buildings that relate to their place. A skyscraper in Kuwait City, should and will be very different from a skyscraper in New York City because there’s different ecological conditions. The sun is different. The winters are different. The skies are different.”

Forster added that when cities make decisions they look to other ones as models.