American Geographical Society

Dubai City
Author(s): Alexander Melamid
Source: Geographical Review, Vol. 79, No. 3 (Jul., 1989), pp. 345-347
Published by: American Geographical Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/215577 .
Accessed: 30/06/2014 09:06
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
.
American Geographical Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Geographical Review.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 94.206.27.0 on Mon, 30 Jun 2014 09:06:33 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GEOGRAPHICAL RECORD
DUBAI CITY
ALEXANDER MELAMID
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
The southern shoreline of the Arabian or Persian Gulf between the
Qatar
and Musandan
peninsulas
is
sandy
and
relatively straight, interrupted only
by
a few shallow inlets. In
English
these are
usually
called
creeks,
although
a riverine
origin
cannot be
proved
in this now hot desert climate. Small
wooden boats used for local
pearling
and for travel on the
gulf
and the
northern Indian Ocean could enter these
creeks,
despite shifting
sandbars.
With the
availability
of some sweet or brackish water at the
margins
of the
beach sand and
creeks,
settlement arose
there,
probably
some five thousand
years ago. Gradually
those settlements became the foci of
political
units like
Dubai,
which included the
grazing
areas of nomadic tribes.' In the 1960s the
political
entities of what was then called Trucial 'Oman
gradually merged
into the United Arab
Emirates,
of which Dubai is the
leading
commercial
member. Abu Dhabi is the
largest
constituent
and,
as the initial and
top-
ranking
oil
producer,
made
possible
the modern
development
of the Emir-
ates. Oil
exports
from Dubai
began
in
1969,
and the revenue from them
greatly
facilitated local
development.
The
city
of Dubai was settled or
perhaps
resettled in 1833
by approxi-
mately
800 members of the Bani Yas
tribe,
who initiated
pearling
and trade.
The
city
is thus
comparatively
recent,
and its
growth
is
primarily
a conse-
quence
of modern commerce and oil
production.
Its urban
geography
and
evolution are well described
by Eugen
Wirth,
who
regards
the
city
as an
outstanding example
of a
large postindustrial
settlement.2 Five
groups
de-
termined its
development,
which
by
1986 had not
yet
been marked
by
traffic
congestion, shortages
of water or
municipal
services,
or slums. The
ruling
family
has been
open
to Western
influences;
the
indigenous
Arab
population
is
religious,
traditional,
and tribal and
expects preferential
treatment from
the
ruler; traders,
many
of Iranian
origin, require
liberal commercial
policies
and a
well-functioning
infrastructure;
and the oil
companies
and their con-
tractors need the same
policies
and services as well as
permission
for
private
consumption
of alcohol and the
privilege
for women to drive automobiles.
The fifth
group, probably three-quarters
of the
working population,
consti-
tutes
immigrants
from elsewhere in the Middle East and from South and
East Asia who
bring
or
expect
to
bring
their families and
require good
residential, commercial, educational,
and medical facilities and services. These
immigrants
do not become citizens of Dubai but
enjoy
more
rights
than
they
do elsewhere in Arabia. Because roads
usually preceded building
construc-
tion,
the effect of urban
planning
is
marked,
and western architectural
styles
prevail.
This content downloaded from 94.206.27.0 on Mon, 30 Jun 2014 09:06:33 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
Dubai
City
has an area of less than
4,000
square
kilometers,
and Wirth
reports
that
any point
in the
city
can be reached within fifteen to
twenty-
five minutes.
Parking space
even in downtown areas near the creek is
readily
available;
municipal
bus service is
infrequent
and not much used. The
city
is divided
by
the creek into several sections that are connected
by
four-to-
six-lane
highways.
The creek was once thirteen kilometers
long,
but the
upper portion beyond
the
city
is now filled. The course is now
fairly straight,
mainly
east-west
running.
South of it is the
government quarter
with the
emir's
residence,
governmental buildings,
and most embassies. North of the
creek and connected
by
a
bridge
is the
principal
central business district on
filled creek land with the most modern
shopping
and
upper-income
resi-
dential areas. Here in older
developed
areas survive traditional bazaars or
suqs,
some roofed over
formerly straight
streets,
that are the best in the
city.
West of the
government quarter
where the creek course turns north near its
mouth lies another old area of
shops,
offices,
and residences. Here are found
a few narrow streets and
suqs, mainly selling
textiles to
immigrant
workers.
Formerly
most wooden boats berthed
here,
and a customs
shed,
the
upper
part
of which was the first
governmental
office,
is now the
city's
historical
museum. A second
bridge
and a direct
highway
that
bypasses
the
govern-
ment
quarter
across
undeveloped
land connect this
part
of Dubai with the
airport
and the industrial zone. Planned in
1971,
a tunnel under the mouth
of the creek has not
yet
been built.
What made this
unique
urban
growth possible?
Wirth
reports
that in
1902 the Iranian
government
established a customs station at Bandar
Lingeh,
which had been the
principal
center in the eastern
part
of the
gulf
for both
legal exchanges
and
smuggling,
and
began collecting high
customs and
harbor dues. Dubai was then declared a free
port
and attracted trade from
Bandar
Lingeh. By
1904
regular
steamer services from India reached Dubai.
Events
during
the two world wars increased external
linkages.
In 1953 the
British transferred their local administrative offices from
Sharjah
to Dubai.
In 1961
electricity,
international
telephone
service,
and the
airport
were
functional.
Deepening
and
straightening
the creek in 1959
provided
filled
land on its northern side for the central business district and industrial areas.
Small vessels could then berth at
quayside,
but
larger ships
still had to anchor
more than one kilometer offshore. Liberal
trading policies
and
good
com-
munications made Dubai
by
the 1960s one of the
principal gold
markets in
the
world,
but
smuggling gold,
watches,
and other
valuables,
chiefly
to
India,
also
emerged
as an
important activity.
Financial aid
initially
from the United
Kingdom
but later from Kuwait and
Qatar
assisted this
early rapid growth.
An efficient real-estate market was
significant
in that
expansion. By
es-
tablished
law,
local families own the land on which their houses stand.
Rental
housing
is rare.
Beyond built-up
areas,
all land and filled sites
belong
to the ruler who can and does sell his
rights.
Members of local tribes are
entitled to obtain about
1,000
square
meters of desert land free from the
346
This content downloaded from 94.206.27.0 on Mon, 30 Jun 2014 09:06:33 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GEOGRAPHICAL RECORD
ruler,
who can also
disperse
funds for construction. These
properties
can be
sold. Dubai
City
thus consists of a mosaic of small
plots, usually
built
up
before
1960,
and
large
lots
mostly developed
thereafter. Much low-cost hous-
ing
in blocs
mainly
of four floors was
provided by
the ruler.
Formerly
this
type
of
housing
was found
beyond
the
built-up
area,
but now most of it is
well within the
city.
Because of this
rapid expansion,
the local brackish wells
were
insufficient,
and
by
1963 a
pipeline brought
additional water from a
source
thirty-five
kilometers distant.
By
that time water
consumption
had
been
doubling every
three
years,
and a
sea-water-distilling plant
was
op-
erative
by
1980. Its
capacity
was doubled in
1984,
and at
past
rates of
growth
it should suffice until 1990. The
plant
uses heat
produced by electricity
generating
that consumes natural
gas.
Since 1968 waste has been removed
by underground
canals,
and a
recycling plant
returns water for use
by
industry,
in
parks,
and for
agriculture.
Solid waste is
efficiently
collected
by
the
municipality
and
deposited
in the desert where it is covered
by
sand.
Although
the creek can be entered
by
vessels
up
to 800
tons,
there are
no
cranes,
and its use
mainly by
dhows and
yachts
makes an attractive
scene. Small
ships
tend to use the
port
at
Hamriya
on the
gulf approximately
five kilometers east of the creek's mouth. Here cranes
permit rapid unloading
to trucks.
Nearby
is the wholesale food
market,
now
regarded
as the
largest
of its sort in the
gulf region,
that receives and distributes wares both
by ship
and truck. This market is now connected
by paved highways
to the
Levant,
Europe,
and Oman. The
port
is also a main
loading point
for
smuggling
on
fast,
diesel-fueled
yachts.3
The main
port,
Rashid,
directly
west of the mouth
of the
creek,
has
thirty-six regular
steamer berths. Protected
by long jetties,
it includes
dry
docks,
a
large
container
terminal,
and
adjacently
the electric-
generating
and
water-distilling plants. Opened
in 1970
primarily
for han-
dling piece goods,
Rashid is
only
25
percent
utilized. Since 1977 bulk
cargoes
have
gone mainly
to the
port
of
Jebel
Ali
thirty-five
kilometers
away,
which
is also underutilized.4 Oil is
exported
from an offshore terminal not connected
to Dubai
City.
Overall
planning
and its execution have been
outstanding
in
Dubai
City,
and it
appears
that it can
manage
with the
now-prevailing
lowered oil
prices despite
its underutilized
port
and industrial areas.
REFERENCES
Alexander
Melamid, Political
Geography
of Trucial 'Oman and
Qatar,
Geographical
Review 43
(1953):
194-206.
2
Eugen
Wirth, Dubai: Ein modernes stadtisches Handels- und
Dienstleistungszentrum
am Arabisch-
Persischen
Golf,
Erlanger Geographische
Arbeiten
48,
Erlangen,
1988.
3
Interviews
by
author.
4
Alexander
Melamid, Urban
Planning
in Eastern
Arabia,
Geographical
Review 70
(1980):
473-477.
347
This content downloaded from 94.206.27.0 on Mon, 30 Jun 2014 09:06:33 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions