They call it the “eighth wonder of the world,” and the ultimate tourist attraction. It’s Palm Jumeirah, a huge human-made island off the coast of Dubai in the shape of a palm tree. Must be seen to be believed. Each “frond” contains thousands of expensive beach-front properties, which were sold just weeks after Sheikh Mohammed, the Prince of Dubai, announced the project. The central “trunk” holds over 100 malls, plus a Trump hotel and a monorail. Dutch engineering firm Van Oord spent almost 7 years building the island from scratch, literally squirting sand into the water out of giant hoses mounted on tankers, reinforcing it with rocks, and using insane drill techniques to make the whole thing seismically sound.

Apparently the curvy edges of the island will have to be nipped and tucked quite often, since the currents will bear away hundreds of kilos of sand monthly. (This also explains why you don’t find naturally-occurring palm-shaped islands.)

Not content to quit the giant engineering project game, Sheikh Mohammed has initiated three more artificial island projects. Two will be palm-shaped, and one will actually contain islands in the shape of Arabic letters that spell out a poem the Prince wrote. Another, called The World, is a series of islands built to resemble the shape of all the continents on earth. You can see a promotional video for The World here. There are some great arial photographs of all the islands here.

Sheikh Mohammed envisions his islands as tourist destinations for the already-touristy Dubai. They’re also excellent examples of what terraforming might really be like on another planet. And the fact that their extreme luxury requires constant high-tech upkeep if they’re not to be washed away makes me think they’re the perfect setting for a near-future SF movie about techno-elites whose fragile way of life is just one step away from being destroyed by hoardes of deprived, angry mutants.