Dubai: An Architectural Masterpiece layered on a Third World Country?

[Prometheus The Supremo]

First, an UHI is not desirable in a desert city because the warmer nights substantially increases energy (cooling) demand in the summertime. Second, most roofs are not reflective. Thirdly, the absorption and release of heat from pavement is a greater contributor to UHI than pretty much anything else and low density sprawling cities tend to have a greater proportion of their surface area paved in asphalt (as well as a much larger overall area paved, in general). Finally, a dense city environment is more energy efficient , because you don't have to individually cool single family houses, and can take advantage of central cooling and other economies of scale.

well, since they're next to a body of water (which releases heat at night) and not in the sahara which can get pretty cold at night, won't pave with cement roads, won't have white or shiny metal roofs, etc, i can see where i've gone wrong with my comments.

 

[Archivist]

The bottom line with Dubai (and the UAE) is that 85% of the residents (and rising) are not, and never can be, citizens. At the first shock, whether it be economic or regional warfare, the country will be vacated by most of its population. The UAE and Dubai have no future.

 

[TO City of Light]

Oh the horror

This is not the world's tallest that is almost finished but another one that is/was to be taller still.

Dubai skyscraper work halted
08:11 EST Wednesday, Jan 14, 2009
​

DUBAI — The developer of a skyscraper slated to soar nearly two-thirds of a mile above Dubai says work on the project has been halted for a year because of market conditions.

Nakheel unveiled plans for the building in October.

The new skyscraper was designed to top another giant – the nearly finished world's tallest building being built by a rival in this fast-growing Persian Gulf city-state.

A statement Wednesday from the developer says “further work on the foundation of Nakheel Harbour & Tower will commence in 12 months.â€

The company says the move is part of its readjustment of “immediate business plans to better reflect current market trends and match supply with demand.â€


© Copyright The Globe and Mail



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[wonderboy416]

Umm...

Does anyone know what the vacancy rates are like in Dubai?
I wouldn't be surprised if half of these monsters were empty.
What % of a building needs tenants lined up prior to construction?
Over 1000m tall is just crazy, I'm not surprised it's on hold given the current market conditions. Here in Seoul highrises and skyscraper projects are on hold left right and centre, and this is a city with over 24 million people including its metro and one of the biggest financial and technology hubs in asia... what can Dubai possibly have to offer that would fuel such growth? Why would western businesses want to setup shop there?

I don't mean to be ignorant, maybe I'm completely missing the boat on something but where do you find deep enough pockets to buy tens of thousands of condos and lease even more office space way up in the sky in a desert? Their primary industry seems to be oil with very little else.

 

[simply Dan]

Their primary industry seems to be oil with very little else.

Their primary industries are finance, construction, real estate development, transportation (Emirates), IT, and hospitality/tourism/retail/services... not oil anymore.

 

[MetroMan]

I think I'd like to visit one day, but everything about Dubai is so artificial. I wonder if its sustainable.

 

[wyliepoon]

http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/090114dubaicanal.asp

Work Proceeds on Dubai Canal, Despite Global Financial Woes
January 14, 2009

By Dianna Dilworth

Most canals are built for the purpose of transportation or irrigation. Not so in Dubai, where, despite the economic crisis, work is reportedly under way on The Arabian Canal, a 46-mile-long waterway that will wrap around an inland development, essentially transforming a swath of desert into desirable waterfront property.

Calthorpe Associates, an urban design firm in California, is designing the canal in collaboration with the landscape architecture firm SWA Group, and the engineering firms Moffatt & Nichol, Parsons International, and Mott MacDonald. Limitless, a government-owned developer, is funding the $11 billion project.

While Limitless announced in late November that it is holding off on selling land plots due to the global financial crisis, it says construction of the canal is proceeding as planned. Workers are excavating 100,000 cubic meters per day, with more than 300 pieces of equipment on site, a Limitless spokesman said in December. The first phase of the project involves digging 200 million cubic meters of earth; the entire canal entails the excavation of 1.1 billion cubic meters of soil, according to SWA Group spokesman.

The canal will be 246 feet wide and 20 feet deep. When completed, it will be just a few miles shorter than the 51-mile-long Panama Canal.

The canal will connect to the Persian Gulf and will snake through the southern part of the emirate, where Limitless hopes to build a 31,000-acre mixed-used development. The land there is mostly dry and barren. “The idea is to maximize the value of the land in the desert,†said Kinder Baumgardner, principal at SWA Group.

The intent also is to create a true city, not a nouveaux Disneyland. In designing the project, SWA Group researched canal cities like Venice and Amsterdam, in addition to studying waterfronts in London and New York City. “The idea was to make it feel like a real place with an urban fabric,†says Baumgardner, “where people will live and work.â€

 

[Archivist]

Quote from the Archivist, October 10, regarding the Nakheel Tower: This ain't gonna get built. Gee, that was hard to predict.

 

[Hydrogen]

The bottom line with Dubai (and the UAE) is that 85% of the residents (and rising) are not, and never can be, citizens.

I guess that's why they need so many hotels.


On a related note, those "palms" look like crushed bedbugs.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

On a related note, those "palms" look like crushed bedbugs.

or an upside down wood louse (aka potato bug, aka "potatoe" bug).
...........................................................................↑
....................................................................(for quayle)

 

[Urban Shocker]

Dubai looks like the sort of absurdist fantasy city many of us drew street plans for when we were about eight or nine years old.

Mine was the capital city of a kingdom called Stumpenstein, ruled by a dotty monarchy that was about to be taken over by the government of a cruel, callous and calculating neighbouring country called Statia.

 

[Towered]

What a stupid, stupid place.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

The saddest thing part of this is all the other up-and-coming global cities that aspire to greatness and see Dubai's path as the one they should follow, only without Dubai's money and ego, they won't even create an amusingly silly city...just like cigarette smoke, second hand inspiration kills.

 

[jks]

The saddest thing part of this is all the other up-and-coming global cities that aspire to greatness and see Dubai's path as the one they should follow, only without Dubai's money and ego, they won't even create an amusingly silly city...just like cigarette smoke, second hand inspiration kills.

That was so poetic

 

[kEiThZ]

That article is filled with generalizations. I spent half my childhood in the UAE and I can assure you that not everything in that article is accurate.

1) Addresses - yes people use landmarks. So the building where I stayed was across from the Palace Hotel in Sharjah. However, several of the Emirates (Dubai in particular) are developing an address system. Streets these days are numbered. It's just taking a while to catch on.

2) Roads - Rougher than North America for sure. But on par with many european cities.....

3) Plants and Trees - Yes there's few of them....it's a desert after all. And they are incredibly valued. When I was there, it was offence to step on the grass on the medians. That's a far cry to how much we value greenery in Canada for sure.

4) Alcohol - What the writer of that article does not understand is that the UAE is a confederation of emirates. So essentially each emirate is like an independent country. So while alcohol is freely available in Ajman (a resort town) its not in Sharjah. The concept and operation of the alcohol permit is common in most of the more tolerant muslim countries. It ensures muslims can't purchase alcohol and it ensures that consumption is regulated.

5) Prices. Dubai used to be cheap when i was there. It's not any more.

6) Staring. Send a white girl to any part of the Middle east or South Asia and see what the public reaction is. She's being oversensitive.

7) Labour. I saved this for the end. My dad worked in a construction company and regularly handled issues with construction labourers. Applying western standards to this issue is incredibly difficult. The first question to ask is "If it's so bad, why are they still coming?" Simple. Because it beats life back home. Check out the exchange rate between the Dhiram and the Ruppee. A few years of hard labour in Dubai means a lifetime of being the toast of the small village in South Asia that you came from. The option for most of these folks was to slog in Mumbai for 100 ruppees a day or slog in Dubai for a 100 dhirams a day.

Abuse of labourers. There are good and bad employers. My dad's company maintained great quarters for its workers. They weren't much to look at by our standards. But they were far better than anything the worker would get while working in major city in South Asia. Admittedly, I do hear from relatives that the situation has taken a turn for the worse lately and abusive practices (such as holding passports) is becoming more common. The government does crackdown occasionally, but for some employers the risk of fines is probably worth the savings so it will go on. The test will be, if the abuse will stop attracting the labour they need.

Getting back to the tone of the letter. This woman has probably never been outside the US. Much of Dubai's urban life is just as chaotic as any older European city. That's the way they like it. As for restrictions on things like alcohol....well you are in a foreign country that too a muslim. I'd be grateful to get beer. Try getting a beef burger at McDonalds in India. It's too bad she missed the significance of Dubai (and the UAE at large). For all it's flaws, here is a place in the Middle East that is using its oil wealth to do something more than buy every citizen a rolls royce and villas for princes in Paris. Their building projects get the headlines, but what about their other achievements. The Jebel Ali freeport. The drive to make dubai a centre of higher learning. Or the start up of a stock exchange (no small feat for a muslim country). Heck, find me another place in the Middle East working this hard on transit. Here is a place in the middle east that is at least attempting to tackle the challenge of how to run an islamic society in the 21st century. Here's a place in the arab world that's actually open to tourism and showcasing arab culture. And finally, here's a place that has delivered better wages to many outsiders (my parents included) than they could have dreamed of at home. It's not perfect. But they're trying. And for that they should be applauded. Look at the rest of the Middle East. I'll take the UAE any day over the rest.