Daniel Holley 9C

Can the continued growth and development

of Dubai be sustained?

Where is Dubai situated?

Dubai is a city state in the middle east. It is part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), situated on the Persian Gulf.Dubai covers an area of 1,588 squared miles of which approximately 88 squared miles has been reclaimed from the Persian Gulf.The region is covered mostly by sandy desert and Dubai has no natural rivers or oases. Most of its drinking water therefore comes from waterholes and desalination plants. Dubai is in the continent of Asia.Its co-ordinates are:Latitude: 27° 38' 60 N, Longitude: 78° 16' 60 E.

This is the small state of Dubai. This photo is looking down at the United Arab Emirates.

This is a closer look at Dubai, revealing it's fantastic features.The red covered area is the Persian Gulf, which Dubai is situated next to.

Dubai History

The earliest mention of Dubai is in 1095 and it was mentioned in 1580 for its pearling industry.Dubai became part of the United Kingdom in 1892 until the British left in 1971.It has always been an important trading port due to its geographical location and proximity to Iran. Oil was discovered in 1966 and soon the population boomed, from then on it has become globally known. In it’s earliest days pearl fishing was the main source of income for Dubai.As time went on trade was also an important part of the towns existence until the discovery of oil.As oil supplies dwindled the town became known as a centre for global finance and most recently tourism has been a main source of income.

Changing Dubai

Oil

Pearl fishing

Tourism

Finance

Trade

This shows the change in source for Dubai and how its wealth increased.

Dubai first started as a fishing ground.

After a while people heard about it's fish, and wanted part of it, that's how Dubai was first known.

Dubai struck oil in 1966 which changed it completely.From then on it developed incredibly.

Dubai started making a lot of money then from selling the oil of which they had struck.

Dubai is now dependent on the tourism and faxes they charge.

Before and after of Dubai

This is a picture of Dubai in 1973. It has no roads or islands there, it's just all sand.

This is a picture of Dubai as it is now in 2011. This photo shows the islands that Dubai has made by reclaiming the sand from the sea and making use of it.

These are two photo's of the same hotel in Dubai, one of which is from 1991, and the other is from 2010

1991 2010

As you can see, the hotel in this photo is isolated with only sand surrounding it.In this photo there's one road, with no traffic on it

In this picture, the hotel looks only miniature in comparison to its surroundings.Most of the lights to the right of the hotel are all traffic, and the ones to the left are other hotels and houses there. The roads in this picture are a lot wider and more busy than in the other picture.

20111973

Problems present in Dubai today

Some of the problems Dubai is facing today are as follows:

Debt – Dubai once seemed as if it had endless amounts of money, making the Burj tower and the Burj al Arab, indoor ski slopes and man made islands. However most of this was paid for with borrowed money and now Dubai is having difficulties in paying it back.

Cheap Labour – Migrant workers constitute a massive 85% of the population mainly in construction, hospitality and domestic service. The conditions that a lot of these workers suffer can include non-payment of wages, extended working hours, unsafe working conditions resulting in death and injuries, poor living conditions in the labour camps and withholding passports and travel documents.

Strict regime – The laws in Dubai are more harsh in comparison to the laws in our country, seen as, in Dubai you're not allowed to show any affection in public, due to the Islamic faith. If a couple were to ,for example, hold hands, embrace etc. they would be prosecuted. The male would face up to a few months imprisonment, whereas the female however would face a matter of years.Another strict law is that there is no alcohol allowed, unless your in a 5 or more star hotel and even then there is limits as to how much you're allowed to consume.The city even has a dress code which insists that, apart from on the beach or by swimming pools, shoulders and legs above the knee should be covered for men and women.

Property prices – the prices of houses and hotels in Dubai are exceedingly expensive, and when bought, the prices drop dramatically due to the recession and the economic situation.

Water – Dubai has to manage water carefully, if the oil was to run out, there would be no money, so the filtration of water would be too expensive to filter meaning there would be no clean water.

Problems that Dubai will face

The major problem Dubai will face in the future would be that the oil which it relies on heavily will run out and it will have to find another source of energy.The whole city is using an incredible amount of energy, in its air conditioning, desalination, irrigation, etc. On a scale it uses up to twice as much energy per person as the UK. Even the design of the city is based around cars and lorries as opposed to pedestrianisation.Dubai has reclaimed sand from the sea, making itself more vulnerable to floods when sea levels rise. If Dubai was to run out of oil, not only would it become a economical wasteland, but it would also run out of money which would stop the filtration of water.

Overcoming Dubai's situation

The government of Dubai is trying hard to reduce its problems.A target has been set to reduce water consumption per head by 36% by 2014.Only 3.4% of Dubai is 'green' land and the Government has set a target of increasing this to 8%.New laws are being made by the government to reduce the exploitation of the workers.Tourism may decline due to world recession. However Dubai is a new place to visit and so will do well compared with its competitors, especially with new attractions still being added. Eco tourism is also a possible attraction.The financial institutions in Dubai are affected by the world banking crisis. Dubai banks have taken measures to protect themselves against outside forces by reducing risky investments.Renewable energy is seen as a way of meeting the 15% increase in energy demand.

Conclusion

I think that the continued growth and development of Dubai can't be sustained because the cheap oil on which is depends on is running out quickly and without it, Dubai would become a struggling state. Despite this I don't think it would become a wasteland as such, however I think its success will slow down rather than come to a complete stand still.Dubai has to become more 'green'.Also the new hotels should be more eco friendly with things such as water recycling systems, heat capture, solar panels, wind turbines and better insulated glass and more energy efficient systems.Any future offshore projects should prepare for global sea-level rise. Public transport system could be improved to make people less dependant on they're own vehicles.

This is a graph I found of the climate changing in Dubai

I've made a Power Point on whether Dubai will sustain its development using the website 'loving the geography sir' and other websites to research the necessary information.

Evaluation