3.2 urban ChanGe: baCkGround on dubai’s urbanism

3.2 Urban change: Background on Dubai’s urbanism

Gulf cities such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha have experienced excessive development pressure over the last 3 decades. Among these, Dubai was a small, self-sufficient, integrated fishing village that reflected the surrounding traditional society but in the 1990’s it set out to become a global city and pioneered the race towards massive developments. It has undergone instant urbanism with a spillover effect on the gulf and world cities.

John Harris from Halcrow was a British firm hired by Sheikh Rashid to manifest Dubai’s first master plan in 1959. The firm envisioned Dubai to blossom around the historic centre along the Dubai creek with a strategic road network, city centre and public spaces all of which were imagined to become reality with the limited financial resources at the time.

The city has undergone four phases of development and expansion: 1900-1955: A period of slow growth and limited physical expansion due to constrained economic growth and a marginal increase in the population. By 1955, the urban area was about 3.2 sq. km.

The population was majorly concentrated in three residential quarters - 1. Deira, consists of 1600 houses and 350 souq shops, with Arabs, Persians and Baluchis making up most of the inhabitants. 2. Al Shindagha, a former residence of the ruling family, with about 250 residences comprising of Arab residents only. 3. Dubai, with 200 houses and 50 souq shops, is mostly inhabited by Persian and Indian merchants.

Dubai’s first master plan was commissioned in 1959 by Architect John Harris under the leadership of Sheikh Rashid.

1956-1970: A phase of compact growth focusing on road systems, zoning of land into different uses and the creation of a new town centre. In 1957, a formal institutional structure was set up to guide and administer the urban developments, called the Dubai Municipality.

1971-1980: A period of planned sub-urban growth. A new ambitious master plan was conceived in 1971. This phase also witnessed major transport developments including the provisions for ring roads around the city and radial street networks to the suburbs, the construction of the Shindagha tunnel to connect Bur Dubai and Deira, the developments of two major bridges named Maktoum and Garhoud, thus linking the two major districts on either side on the creek. Deira, situated on the east side of the creek, developed rapidly into a major banking and administrative centre, along with establishing the busiest airport in the country. On the other side of the creek, an international import and container harbour was developed along the dry docks and major industrial areas. This area witnessed various landmarks emerge such as the world trade centre. Another development of major significance was the development of Dubai’s main artery along the Sheikh Zayed corridor towards Jebel Ali. This emerged at the new commercial and financial centre of the city.

1980-Present: This period witnessed rapid urbanization, in terms of scale and diversity of projects. The city covers an area of 4114 sq. km now. The 1960 master plan laid the foundations for the urban transportation and services networks, but it failed to foresee the demands of explosive growth in the city that followed in the 1990s. This compelled the government to devise the Dubai Urban Area Strategic Plan 1993-2012, to guide the economic and physical development of the city, also by encouraging private investments, expanding tourism opportunities and undertaking mega development projects. Dubai’s development pattern is unique, its speed and scale are even more so, which also makes it a polycentric city. The direct result of this decentralised urban approach is comprised of evocative sounding districts – Downtown Dubai, Business Bay, Dubai Marina, Festival city, Palm Jumeirah and several others (D Safarik, 2018). The older districts such as Bur Dubai, Deira and Satwa function as the suburbs. Meanwhile, megaprojects to facilitate commerce, services and leisure are being developed that function as a city itself. A few examples are:

From left to right Top to bottom Internet city Media city Festival city Dubai Marina International city DIFC (Dubai International Finance Centre) Business bay Downtown Dubai

(Source: Google images)