The Dubai City Essays

The Dubai City Essays The Dubai City Essay The Dubai City Essay Dubai is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and is one among the seven emirates. It is situated on the Arabian Peninsula along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf. To distinguish it from the emirate, Dubai city is sometimes referred to as the Dubai Municipality. This city has been estimated to have existed for more than one hundred and fifty years prior to the formation of UAE. Within the federal framework, Dubai shares economic, political, military and legal functions with its fellow emirates. However, each country has its own jurisdiction over special functions such as upkeep of local facilities, provision of local facilities and civic law enforcement (Brown, 2006, p. 15). In this union, Dubai has the largest population and is the second largest after Abu Dhabi. In the country’s legislature, veto power is exercised on matters that are considered of national importance. In the early 19th century, Dubai was established and operated independently until 1833. With the British government, the country signed the general maritime peace treaty. In 1892, the country came under the protection of the United Kingdom after an exclusive agreement. The country has a history of being an important port for foreign based traders, most of them coming in from India. Ultimately, many of the traders ended up settling in the nation because of the conducive investment and trading environment the nation had. The fame of the country started as early as 1820s and is still very much pronounced today. Today, the nation is mostly referred to as the City of Dubai (Omar, 2006, p. 11). During these times, Dubai was very well known for exporting pearl. Unanticipatedly, the trade was dismissed by the events of the World War 1 in 1930s. The effects of the great depression in the late 1920s also devastated the growth and development of the city. In the realm of the economic challenges the city faced, it experienced massive migration of people to seek better living in parts of the Persian Gulf. The 1950s marks the time when the British moved its local administration offices to Dubai and thus airport, telephone and electricity services were established in the city. The town joined Qatar in 1966 to form a new monetary unit, Dubai/Qatar Riyal. This move led to the devaluation of the Gulf Rupee that had previously lasted as the medium of exchange. Still in 1966, oil was discovered in Dubai and the town granted concessions towards international oil companies. When it was discovered, a large influx of foreign workers mainly Pakistanis and Indians was experienced by the city (Ciecko, 2006, p. 19). Through some estimates, the population of the town grew by more than 300% from 1968 to 1975. The Britain protectors left the Persian Gulf in 1971, leading the emirates to join and form the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Dubai joined fellow emirates in adopting a uniform currency, the UAE dirham. Despite the influx of the Lebanese immigrants fleeing civil war in Lebanon in 1970, the city continued to grow rapidly because of the revenues collected from trade and oil. In 1979, Jebel Ali port was established, becoming the largest manmade port around the world. This port enabled the foreign companies to have an unrestricted importation of labor as well as export capital (Rugh, 1997, p. 23). In 1990, the effects of the Persian Gulf War had a large impact on the city. This war created uncertainty in the political fields within the whole region. As a result, the economy experienced a shock as Dubai banks withdrew their funds massively. During the Persian Gulf War, Kuwait trading community moved their businesses to Dubai. During the Shia unrest, communities from Bahrain also moved their businesses to the city since it was felt as the best investment site in the region by then. During the Persian Gulf War, the city provided refueling services at Jebel Ali free zone to allied forces. The town provided the same services during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. After the Persian Gulf War ended, oil prices increased largely, encouraging the nation to highly focus on tourism and free trade. The model to develop clusters of new free zones was fueled by the success of the port. The clusters included Dubai Maritime City, Dubai Media City and the Dubai Internet City. Dubai marketed its tourism sector through the construction of Burj Al Arab which up to now serves as the tallest freestanding hotel in the world, and also as the most developed residential holdings. In creating Dubai’s skyline, the country since 2002 has experienced increases in private real estate investments. This development was aided through engaging in projects such as Burj Dubai, The World Islands and The Palm Islands (Khalaf, 2000, p. 27). In the recent years, the city had robust economic growth, which has been accompanied by high inflation rates. In 2007, the rate of inflation stood as 11. 2%, measured against consumer price index. The inflation rise is attributed to doubling trend of residential and commercial rental costs, which have caused substantial increase of living costs for the citizens. The city lies directly within the Arabian Desert. Its topography is however different from the ones within the emirates zone, making the city appear unique. A larger portion of Dubai’s landscape is highlighted by gravel deserts and sandy desert patterns. Gravel deserts dominate the southern part of the city. The sand is composed of coral and crushed shell and it is also white, clean and fine. The eastern part of the city is made up of a north south running line of dunes formed with salt crushed coastal plains. Far to the east, the dunes are tinged red with iron oxide (Sultan, et al, 1999, p. 31). There is a flat sandy desert forming a paving path towards the Western Hajar Mountains that found to stretch along the Dubai’s border with Oman at Hatta. These mountains have a landscape that in shattered, jagged and arid, rising to a height of 1300 meters. The city does not have any natural water body or oases, but only a natural inlet called Dubai creek, dredged to make it deeper for use by large vessels. The city has multiple waterholes and gorges, at the base of Western Al Hajar Mountains. The vast sea of sand dunes in the southern part forms a desert known as the Empty Quarter. The city is located in a very stable zone, bearing in mind that Zargos Fault which is the nearest seismic fault line is one hundred and twenty kilometers from the UAE territory, limiting the possibilities of seismic impacts on Dubai. Through expertise consultation, the region has minimum possibilities of experiencing tsunami because the waters of the Persian Gulf are not deep enough to trigger the disaster (Marios, 2007, p. 16). The sandy desert that surrounds the city nurtures occasional date palm trees and also supports wild grasses. In the east of the city, desert hyacinths grow as ghaf and acacia trees grow in the flat plains. Dubai’s natural parks are composed of both indigenous and imported trees. The indigenous trees include neem and date palm whereas the imported trees mainly include eucalyptus. The parks still have a variety of animals such as Arabian Oryx, falcon, desert fox, caracal, striped hyena and the houbara bustard. This city lies in a migration path of birds towards and from Africa, Asia and Europe, through which about 320 migratory birds pass during autumn and winter. The waters of Dubai also harbor more than 300 species of fish, with hammour being the most popular. The city has a hot and humid climate with monthly recordings of over 40 degrees Celsius. The highest recorded temperature is usually 47. 3 degrees whereas the lowest recorded is seven degrees. The city receives light rains of about 150 millimeters annually, precipitations coming in March, February and January. Heavy rains usually come in winter months, recording 120mm. High humidity levels are experienced in cooler winter periods and the mean humidity in the country is 60% (Daniela, 2002, p. 24). Dubai has a multicultural and diverse community. This was after the arrival of nationals and ethnic groups, first Iranians, Indians and Pakistanis. Only infrequent and minor episodes of ethnic tensions have ever been reported despite the diversity of the whole population. The common conflicts occur between expatriates who are recently and frequently visiting the city. In 1994, Muslim laborers and the Hindu clashed leading to deportation and detainment of Pakistani and Indian workers. The cosmopolitan nature of the society is indicated by the diversity of cuisine. Arab food is readily available and very popular. The consumption and sale of pork is regulated though not illegal, being sold in designated areas and to non Muslims. To purchase alcohol within the city, a liquor permit is required, or else obtained from restaurants and bars within five and four star hotels. Bollyhood and holly wood movies have made the city fame through their popularity. The city attracts celebrities from international cinema and the Arab community because it is where annual Dubai international film festival is held. The nation has an active musical scene, with musicians Phil Collins, Celine Dion, Shakira, pink, Elton John, Santana, Aerosmith, Tarkan, Diana Haddad and Amrdiab having frequent visits to the city and making musical performances (Martin, 1993, p. 67).