Revealed: inside Dubai Expo 2020's Sustainability Pavilion

An emotional journey that tells the enchanting story of humankind’s relationship with nature and our impact on it, awaits millions of visitors to Expo 2020 Dubai’s Sustainability Pavilion.

Terra is the first thematic experience to be revealed by Expo 2020. The other two key subthemes are Opportunity and Mobility.

Post-Expo 2020, Terra will become a children and science centre in District 2020, the new city that will transform from the Expo site.

Terra will highlight the urgency of addressing negative environmental impacts, caused in large part by human behaviour, through an experience that is designed to empower visitors to understand their impact on the environment and become agents of change.

Terra (meaning Home Earth) will bring to life the UAE and Expo 2020’s commitment to sustainability, acting as a catalyst for change in the UAE, the region and globally.
Sustainability is one of Expo 2020’s three key subthemes and the six-month event will serve as a platform to drive change, share solutions and explore new ideas that encourage us to act collectively in order to save our planet.

John Bull, director – Sustainability Pavilion, Expo 2020 Dubai, said: "Humankind has had an enormous impact on the world and Expo 2020’s Terra experience is designed to reveal the magnitude of this impact in a way that is personal and inspiring.

"It will be a stirring, and at times emotional, experience as visitors come face-to-face with the significance of their individual choices. We hope they will emerge with a new perspective that inspires millions of people of all ages to take action in their own lives, as we all come together to welcome a better future."

Publicly revealed for Earth Day, the visitor experience begins in a wadi – a dry riverbed – and tells the story of Arabia, reflecting that the next World Expo is the first to be held in the Arab world. Visitors can walk in the tracks of mega elephants, follow the footsteps of a cheetah, and discover the flora and fauna of the Arabian Peninsula, while learning how humankind and nature can thrive in harmony.

Huge installations inspired by iconic fairground attractions will then explain key sustainability issues and concepts. For example, a giant balance maze will require multiple people to collaborate to bring Earth into balance, symbolising Expo 2020’s theme of Connecting Minds, Creating the Future.

Visitors then reach a crossroads where their journey becomes a choice between Under the Ocean and Under the Forest.

The Consumption Halls will lay bare the magnitude of the damage caused by consumer choices through installations such as Gnasher, an insatiable giant consumption-machine that ingests endless amounts of natural resources to churn out single-use consumer products, demonstrating how our choices depend on using the Earth's bounty.

A series of ‘would you rather?’ scenarios will then challenge visitors to consider how individual behaviours directly impact our planet.

Their journey will then be turned upside down at the Laboratory of Future Values, a hopeful space that presents solutions to the challenges, issues and worries raised earlier.

The Terra experience culminates by asking visitors to make an individual pledge that supports positive change. This could be as simple as cutting back on food waste or not using single-use plastic. With capacity for 4,400 visitors per hour over 173 days, that could equal millions of changes that help preserve the environment.

Dubai Expo 2020 expects to record 25 million visits between October 20, 2020, and April 10, 2021

Emirate:  Dubai

Date: Apr 22, 2019

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