India, June 30 -- Most people come to Dubai looking up - at the world's tallest building, glittering skyscrapers, impossible hotels and even more impossible supercars. But one afternoon in February, I found myself looking sideways instead, down the warehouse-lined streets of Al Quoz, where industrial shutters hide some of the city's most exciting creative spaces.

The first few minutes at Alserkal Avenue are almost disorienting. From the outside, it looks like any other warehouse district. Then you walk through one unassuming door, and suddenly you're surrounded by contemporary galleries, indie cafes, concept stores, design studios and people who somehow all look effortlessly cooler than you. It felt less like the Dubai I'd known and more...