Dubai: Man Made Islands

Waiting to Disappear

By :
Usama Ehsan
What was Dubai Before the Boom?
• The town of Dubai was an important port of call
for foreign tradesmen, chiefly those from Iran,
many of whom eventually settled in the town.
• Dubai was known for its pearl exports until the
1930s; pearling was damaged irreparably by
World War I, and later on by the Great
Depression in the 1930s. With the collapse of
pearling many residents migrated to other parts
of the Persian Gulf.
BEFORE AND AFTER
What was Dubai Before the Boom?
• Jumeirah Beach
– Historically, Arabs living in the Jumeirah were
fishermen, pearl divers and traders. In modern
times (1960 onwards) 2009

1995
 What Are the Palm Islands
• The Palm Islands in Dubai, are a man made island chain that is
under construction. It is composed of three islands, the Palm
Jumeirah, the Palm Jebel Ali and the Palm Deira.
 What Are the Palm Islands
• The beaches and blue waters of the Arabian Sea are among
the most attractive features of Dubai; however they are
also limited to just 70 kilometers of shoreline. It is through
this, that the idea of Palm Island was inspired.
• The palm tree, known also as the ‘bride of the orchard’, is
one of Dubai’s most important symbols. With its spread-
out branches, it also constitutes an ideal shape to maximize
beachfront space.
• Over the past 15 years Dubai has become one of the fastest
growing city in the whole world. It was in the mid 90s when
Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al
Maktoum set out his vision to make Dubai one of the
world’s biggest tourist atractions.
 The Palm Islands
• The Palm Jebel Ali Umar began construction in October
2002 and was expected to be completed in mid 2008.Once it
has been completed, it will be encircled by Dubai Waterfront.
The project, which is 50 percent larger than the Palm
Jumeirah, will include six marinas, a water theme park, 'Sea
Village', homes built on stilts, and boardwalks that circle the
"fronds" of the "palm" and spell out an Arabic poem by
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum:
– Take wisdom from the wise
It takes a man of vision to write on water
Not everyone who rides a horse is a jockey
Great men rise to greater challenges
Palm Jebel Ali UMAR
 Palm Deira
• The Palm Deira is the biggest of the three Palm Islands situated on
the Deira inshore arena of the emirate of Dubai, in the United Arab
Emirates. The unequalled artificial palm-shaped island will consist of
a stem, a crown with 41 leaves, and an encompassing crescent
island which will be surrounded by a sea wall.
Palm Deira - Dubai

The Palm Deira will continue for 14 kilometres

lengthwise and 8.5 kilometres breadth-wise. It
will have an area of 80 square kilometres. It
will comprise of residences, marinas, shopping
malls, sports facilities, and clubs. The inhabited
area will be situated on the fronds and will be
full of 8000 two-floor town houses in three
distinct styles. They are Premier Villas, Grand
Villas and Vista Town Homes. It is anticipated
to be completed by 2015.
 The World Islands
• The World Islands are a gathering of artificial islands formed on
the Dubai coast. It will have 300 small private non-natural islands
alienated into 4 classes that are private homes, estate homes,
dream resorts, and community islands. Each island will be between
250-900 thousand square feet in size, with 50 to 100 metres of
water amid each island. It will wrap a total area of 9 kilometres in
length and 6 kilometres in width. An elliptical breakwater will
encircle the main island development. The means of transportation
between the islands will be by water or air.

The Dubai World

Islands can only be
reached via air and
sea.
 Now Let’s Take A Closer Look
• Map and Satellite View
• Video
 Dubai: Many Islands but at What
Costs?
• Pro’s
– Economy ( only for Dubai (<@__@>))
– Great for your Eyes   ^__^
– Seriously What Can You Not Do With Your Own
Island (p.s It’s bigger than your bedroom… Think
Big!)
– What DO you Guy’s Think?
 Cons
• The islands are bringing some extreme economic growth to Dubai. But the
question at hand is that are the economic growth patterns that these
islands show worth the amount of environmental damage they are causing.
• The silt that forms the Islandclouds the waters around Dubai. This in turn
has made it hard for underwater wildlife to flourish. The coral reefs in the
surrounding area are also having trouble thriving. The main designer even
admits that the construction has ruined and completely covered many coral
reefs. It has also messed up the natural migration of fish that the area used
to see.
• The islands are built by dredging up the sand from surrounding areas and
transporting it back to the islands. They have depleted their allotted source
of sand so much that they now may not have enough to finish according to
one article I encountered.
 Cons (Our Future)
• They are also bringing large amounts of rock in from quarries
many miles inland. They bring so many truck loads in per day
that the transportation in Dubai has become horrendous.

• The transportation authorities actually came up with a plan to

limit the amount of trucks allowed and this is not hurting the
progress of the islands. I saw TV series on national geographic
that explained the traffic problems in more detail.
• The islands themselves, the fronds were made out of an
obscene amount of sand - 94 million cubic meters of it! That
is enough to cover the whole of Manhattan 1 m deep!
 Cons (Our Future)
•  This is sand was superior because it was coarse, dense and resistant to wave impa
ct. The sand was dredged by the Belgian company Jan De Nul and the Dutch
company Van Oord, and was sprayed using dredging ships. Sand placement was
guided by Differential Global Positioning Systems
(DGPS) allowing for an error of less than 0.39 of an inch beyond imagined
boundaries (since there are no rigid mold to hold it in place). The way this works is
that five men walk around the entire island daily in the hot temperature and high
humidity levels, carrying these cumbersome gadgets behind their backs, and
receive signals from the Prince's own satellite system, located 676 km up in space.
(This technology rivals those of the Russian and US military!) The height and
position of the deposited sand is recorded and reveals the coordinates (like on a
graph) where precisely, the dredges should make additional deposits. The sand
was dredged at very high speeds at 10m/s. It took less than 1 hour to fill an 8 ton
tank with sand! This process,  known as the rainbowing process, is when a
dredging ship propels sand from the ocean floor and forms a high arc in the air, as
shown in the picture. After the rainbowing process,
the sand rises 4 m above water.
Cons (Our Future)