Good infrastructure, clean streets, adequate public transit, no crime.
Well connected globally.
They don’t even have a working sewage system.
https://dotless.ae/how-does-dubai-manage-its-sewage-water/
From 2016 so Dubai may have had a working sewage system for a year, so I could be wrong.
> Dubai: The emirate of Dubai will get a new deep tunnel sewerage system costing Dh12.5 billion in the next five years to replace more than 121 sewage pumping stations.
Pumping station meaning tankers transport the waste away.
https://gulfnews.com/uae/government/dubai-to-get-a-new-sewag...
It’s not like they’re making residents pay high taxes to pay for the tankers either.
The end user experience of the sewage system in Dubai is no different than in regular Western cities. That’s really all that matters when trying to figure out if it’s “working” or not.