A property exhibition by any other name...

From left: Chris Speller, Group Director, Cityscape and Rohan Marwaha, Managing Director Cityscape.

In a press conference this morning, Cityscape officially announced the rebranding of Cityscape Dubai as 'Cityscape Global'.

A move regarded by many as a thinly-veiled attempt to disguise the un-marketability of a property exhibition with 'Dubai' in its title, Cityscape officials assured attendees that the initiative was more rebirth than retreat.

"This is a move to acknowledge the global participants, sponsors and visitors that we're seeing," said Rohan Marwaha, managing director of Cityscape Global. "It's not just about real estate in Dubai. It's also about real estate in the rest of the world."

Marwaha cited past exhibitors including the governments of Singapore, Russia, Rome, Hamburg and Paris as proof of the international reach of the exhibition formerly known as Cityscape Dubai and justification for the name change.

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According to Chris Speller, Group Director of Cityscape, along with the name change comes a change in format. "Cityscape Global will run multi-stream conferences devoted to various regions around the world, in addition to the Dubai-focused events."

Speller continued: "We'll continue with the Connect events, the World Architecture Congress and the Business Breakfasts. We'll also be expanding our City Leaders Forum to include more government interaction with public and private developers."

Although Cityscape Abu Dhabi, Latin America, Asia, North America and Jeddah will retain their market-specific monikers and focus, development in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar was cited by Speller and Marwaha as representing "huge opportunities" that will benefit much more from the rebranding.

Far from wanting to portray the newly branded Cityscape Global as the black sheep of the Cityscape herd, Speller and Marwaha's vision for the exhibition is to have it become the premier event in the Cityscape portfolio.

"[Cityscape Global] is in a unique position," concluded Marwaha. "We have the chance to take the strengths from each event and utilise that network and make sure that we become the must-attend Cityscape event."

Cityscape Global will take place in Dubai between October 4-7, 2010.