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Urban Redevelopment Trauma: The Story of a Dubai Neighbourhood

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DOI: 10.2148/benv.40.3.357

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 URBAN REDEVELOPMENT TRAUMA: THE STORY OF A DUBAI NEIGHBOURHOOD

Urban Redevelopment Trauma:

The Story of a Dubai Neighbourhood
KHALED ALAWADI

This article tells the story of the transformation, partial demise, and unclear fate of
a Dubai neighbourhood. Al-Satwa, a traditionally designed Dubai neighbourhood,
demonstrates a kind of urban violence that is under-theorized in urban studies
literature: the disruption caused by top-down redevelopment. This article describes
two kinds of violence that have characterized redevelopment efforts in Al-Satwa:
displacement of residents and destruction of cultural fabrics and traditional
neighbourhood lifestyles. The article draws on several kinds of government and
historical documents, field observation, and interviews with thirty-five Al-Satwa
residents to describe how Dubai’s post-2008 redevelopment strategy enacted these
kinds of violence on the Al-Satwa neighbourhood. Findings reveal that Dubai’s post-
2008 planning acts purposefully destroyed many traditional neighbourhoods in
order to expand Dubai’s culture of excess and superlative architecture. I show how
these actions affect the living conditions of Al-Satwa’s low-income workers, who are
strongly attached to their modest environment.

Urban environments are being transformed
and developed at an enormous pace and scale,
which often precludes forethought and jus-
tification. In Dubai, for example, numerous
mega-scale developments were built in record
time without integration into the existing
urban fabric. In fact, examining Dubai‘s
urban growth is simultaneously astonishing
and frustrating. Dubai has urbanized and
grown rapidly. With this massive growth
and consolidation of mega-scale urbanism,
the size of the working class has skyrocketed,
leading to massive socio-cultural transforma-
tion and challenges, especially in Dubai’s
central districts.
Since its founding, Dubai has drawn a
variety of immigrants, especially from Persia,
the Indian Sub-Continent, and the Philippines
(Kazim, 2000). According to Al Qassemi
(2013), Emiratis are a ‘shrinking minority’
whose national identity and heritage are
radically vulnerable due to the large number
of expatriates. According to the World Bank,
the population of the UAE is today around
9.2 million. Another study by a Kuwaiti think
tank puts the UAE’s population at 8.5 million,
with expatriates making up 84 per cent of
the population (Al Qassemi, 2013). Dubai is
the UAE’s most developed and urbanized
city and claims the nation’s largest number
of expatriates. Figures for 2010 indicated
that Dubai’s population included 183,600
UAE nationals; 1,195,300 million resident
expatriates; and 536,100 foreign workers
(Dubai Municipality, 2011). As the immigrant
population has grown, scholars have raised
questions about the size of its working-class
population, whose members live in the city’s
old districts and work in its service and retail
sectors. Many of them have left their spouses
and families in their home countries to seek
work in Dubai to improve their family’s
living standards (Elsheshtawy, 2008).
This paper presents a case study of

BUILT  ENVIRONMENT   VOL  40   NO  3 349
 URBAN VIOLENCE
Al-Satwa, a central Dubai neighbourhood that
has experienced acute development pressures
and cultural and urban transformation over
the past two decades. Al-Satwa does not
actually constitute a site of political instability
where violent encounters take place, but
more significantly, it demonstrates multiple
other types of urban violence that have
been under-theorized. These types of urban
violence include destruction and removal of
traditional and dense urban neighbourhoods,
displacement of residents, and disruption
of much-valued living environment and
residents’ sense of satisfaction and security.
This case represents a shift in Dubai’s
approach to planning: while the vast majority
of pre-2008 developments were planned
on vacant, unpopulated land, Al-Satwa is
Dubai’s first attempt to raze traditional urban
neighbourhoods. Meanwhile, concerted
attempts by public-private firms to remove
and replace older neighbourhoods are taking
place throughout Dubai, especially in core
areas. This case, therefore, represents one
model of urban rupture in Dubai.
Al-Satwa, one of Dubai’s oldest urban neigh-
bourhoods, is located in a prime location, con-
tiguous to the new downtown area. From
the late 1960s to the early 1990s, it housed
350
the indigenous population. In the mid-1990s,
the migration of local families to suburban
areas enabled the working class to take con-
trol of the area, and the most recent figures
indicate that this district houses around
39,488 low-income workers (RTA, 2013). In
2007, the entire area was allocated to a semi-
government firm for the purpose of trans
forming it into a luxury district called
‘Jumeirah Gardens’. The firm compensated
local owners and started the process of
demolition. In 2008, after razing a huge
tract of the eastern section of Al-Satwa, the
firm halted the project due to the recession.
Assigned
The current urban structure of Al-Satwa
is composed of three fabrics: a retail and
residential corridor and the areas to the
east and west of this corridor (see figure 1).
The dynamic retail and residential corridor
includes apartment buildings and an eclectic
array of 2,206 retail stores at the street level
(Dubai Municipality Records, 2014). The
area to the east of the strip is close to Dubai’s
new downtown corridor, where numerous
high-rises line up. The firm razed most
of this eastern part in 2008, and today, it
predominantly accommodates low-income
male workers, the majority of whom are from
Figure 1. Aerial photo of
Al-Satwa showing its urban
fabric and context. The eastern
section is largely vacant.
(Photo: Courtesy of RTA)
BUILT  ENVIRONMENT   VOL  40   NO  3
 URBAN REDEVELOPMENT TRAUMA: THE STORY OF A DUBAI NEIGHBOURHOOD
the Indian subcontinent. The area west of the
retail strip primarily houses low-income male
and female workers from the Philippines.
One zone within this area is popularly known
as ‘Manila’; its official name is Al Hudaiba
Street (Elsheshtawy, 2008; Nelson, 2010). A
dwindling native population and middle-
income foreigner families are scattered
among the three urban fabrics of Al-Satwa.
Exact demographic information is limited
due to the frequent migration of residents
and lack of precise census data in Dubai.
In this paper I ask:
 What does the case of Al-Satwa tell us
about urban violence?
 How can the case of Al-Satwa contribute
to scholarly conceptualizations of urban
violence?
This study tells the story of an interrupted
demolition-and-redevelopment project that
has prioritized serving the economic elite to
the exclusion of other values, such as histori-
cal and cultural preservation and serving a
diverse population. This project has enacted
several forms of violence on the neighbour-
hood: first, it partially demolished a valuable
historical area; second, the threatened-but-
postponed dislocation of current residents
would disrupt and possibly destroy valued
cultural and economic resources for an under-
privileged portion of the population; and
third, the postponement, surprise, and non-
participatory nature of the process creates an
atmosphere of insecurity that itself constitutes
a form of psychological violence. Thus, the
story of this neighbourhood provides a
valuable reconceptualization of the urban
violence concept, one that offers valuable
new levels of understanding.
This paper begins by discussing con-
nections between Dubai’s efforts to flatten
inner-city neighbourhoods and US urban
renewal programmes that have been
described in planning literature. I discuss
studies that acknowledge the violence that
BUILT  ENVIRONMENT   VOL  40   NO  3
top-down planning can cause, and I explain
how Dubai’s redevelopment agenda can be
understood to constitute urban violence.
I then provide a background section on
Al-Satwa. I trace the process by which a
previously family-based neighbourhood became
a home to labourers and other low-paid
workers. In particular, I discuss Al-Satwa’s
urban dynamics, changing population, migra-
tion of families, housing conditions, and
eventual partial demise. The article also
draws on original field observation and
formal and informal interviews to describe
workers’ recent socio-cultural lives, sense
of satisfaction, and connection to the site. I
then conceptualize different patterns of urban
violence that the case of Al-Satwa embodies.
Ultimately, I argue that the removal of the
remaining fabric of Al-Satwa constitutes a
type of urban violence that (1) demolishes a
distinctive city fabric; (2) displaces residents
and employees; and (3) distresses the lives of
thousands of low-income workers. The article
ends with a discussion of the possibility of
preserving and retrofitting this area.
Redevelopment as Urban Violence
Dubai appears frequently in cities and urban
studies literature, which typically focus
on either its glamorous and monumental
approach to urban design and planning or
its poorly regulated growth. The year 2008
represented a shift in Dubai’s development
history. The city systematically transformed its
development practices from the optimization of
vacant land and the reclamation of Gulf water
to the removal of traditional and publicly
occupied land. This transformation could be
called a ‘paradigm shift’ in Dubai’s history of
planning. As Hu (2013) asserts, the concept
of paradigm shift can mean many things,
but in urban design it means a fundamental
change in the beliefs and thoughts that frame
a community’s sense of its own interests
which then serves as an example from which
other cities to learn.
However, while Dubai’s shift towards
351
 URBAN VIOLENCE
replacing old areas with contemporary
ones represents a new frontier in its urban
development methods, it does not meet
the strict interpretation of Kuhn’s (1970)
and Grade’s (2008) understanding of a
‘paradigm shift’ for several reasons. First,
the razing of traditional neighbourhoods
to make way for privatized monumental
towers and artificial water bodies is a kind
of violence that does not respect traditional
sites and existing city fabric. Second, this
change displaces thousands of low-income
people and deprives them of their living
environment. Third, this shift is dominated
by a private hegemonism and economic
interests which often discount public input
and interests. Driving out traditional and
well-established neighbourhoods for merely
economic and commercial reasons is a type
of urban violence characterized by the
insensitive occupation of land. All in all, these
accumulated private planning practices and
intentions do not constitute a model for other
cities to emulate.
I argue that Dubai’s redevelopment
initiatives share common traits with many
projects from the urban renewal period of the
1950s and 1960s in the United States. First, in
the United States, municipalities and business
elites used their power to replace racially
diverse neighbourhoods and old city fabrics,
especially in central areas (Brown et al., 2009).
The situation in Dubai was no different:
public-private agencies used their centralized
authority either to develop virgin lands or
tear up old and viable urban neighbourhoods
(Davidson, 2008; Record News, 2008; Sepas-
dar and Sibley, 2008). Second, the US urban
renewal programmes had a megastructural
and ‘non-contextualized’ approach to urban-
ism (Greer, 1966 as cited in Macionis and
Parrillo, 2007; Brown et al., 2009). Similarly,
the morphology of Dubai’s urbanism is often
described as gargantuan in scale (Machado
2006; Al-Masry, 2008). Douglas Kelbaugh,
Professor of Architecture and Urban Plan-
ning and former Dean of the University of
Michigan, argues that Dubai has a ‘monu-
352
mental weakness for monumentality’; it
followed the American post-World War II
approach to city building (Alawadi, 2011).
Cohen (2013) agrees, arguing that everything
in Dubai aspires to be the biggest and the
tallest. Third, US urban renewal projects dis-
connected many residents from their original
environments and erased a massive cultural
heritage (Brown et al., 2009). This repercussion
is also observable in Dubai’s redevelopment
practices, which obliterated places of great
cultural significance and dislocated hundreds
of families and low-income workers (Nelson,
2010; Kannan, 2012, 2013).
Fourth, the demise of traditional areas
in the United States destroyed many of
the things that make cities great, including
diversity, permeability, vigorous streets,
social engagement, and choice (Jacobs, 1961;
Brown et al., 2009). In Dubai, the situation
was the same. According to one observer,
Al-Satwa is a slice of Dubai’s heritage; its
demolition is a ‘sad loss as there is really very
little of the old Dubai remaining’ (Nelson,
2010). Dubai’s old areas create a contrast with
the new areas that makes the city appealing,
and losing this urban asset diminishes variety
and choice. Jacobs (1961) believes that ‘cities
need old buildings so badly’; it is impossible
to have active and diverse neighbourhoods
and streets without them. Lynch (1960) also
emphasizes the influence of traditional city
fabric on how people perceive, understand,
and interact with their environment. He
found that the most ‘imageable’ cities are
regularly the ones with traditional fabric and
cultural significance.
Most often, post-World War II renewal
initiatives in the United States were large-
scale programmes aimed at developing city
cores in line with economic interests only
(Greer, 1966; Lowe, 1968, as cited in Macionis
and Parrillo, 2007). Macionis and Parrillo
(2007, p. 345) noted that ‘because of the deep
involvement of private banking and con-
struction industries, profit overshadowed any
sense of social responsibility to help the poor’.
Similarly, investors in Dubai demonstrated a
BUILT  ENVIRONMENT   VOL  40   NO  3
 URBAN REDEVELOPMENT TRAUMA: THE STORY OF A DUBAI NEIGHBOURHOOD
pattern of pursuing profit rather than pro-
viding a good living environment for a
variety of classes (Katodrytis, 2005; Doherty,
2008). In one interview, a government official
said, ‘I am afraid to say that the city gave too
much of freedom’ to private entities. They
were allowed to demolish and build whatever
they want as long as they were ‘successful’,
and ‘success’ was mainly measured by ‘profit
generation and investment return’ (Alawadi,
2011).
Although there are numerous connections
between Dubai’s post-2008 redevelopment
strategies and postwar urban renewal pro-
jects in the United States, there is also a
significant dissimilarity between the two.
In the United States, reactions to the 1960s
urban renewal projects opened a new chapter
in planning scholarship and practice, which
brought with it a true paradigm shift in
city planning. Specific failures in the major
renewal interventions of the 1950s and early
1960s garnered serious criticism and led to
strong reactions from scholars and others.
Leading this reaction was Jane Jacobs, author
of the Death and Life of Great American Cities
(1961). Instead of demolishing inner-city areas,
Jacobs’s campaign incorporated mixed-use
and infill projects that demonstrated sensi-
tivity and respect towards existing communities.
Unlike the United States, Dubai has not
fundamentally modified its redevelopment
Figure 2. Al Satwa’s
commercial corridor, which
draws a variety of people,
including Emiratis, Filipinos,
Indians, and members of a
range of other nationalities.
BUILT  ENVIRONMENT   VOL  40   NO  3
agenda. Although the city was hit by the
economic crisis of 2008, it did not abandon
its intense urban approach, an approach that
does not respect existing communities, does
not emphasize small and fine-grain patterns,
and does not promote a sense of equity,
place, and community building. As Molavi’s
(2007, p. 103) notes, with ‘relaxed building
and planning regulations’ and a market
norm that favours selling and profit, Dubai
continues to embody the motto, ‘what is good
for the merchants is good for Dubai’.
The Background to Al-Satwa
Satwa’s Urban Dynamics
Where is it possible to find genuine street
food, a street bustling with people and
action, a massive cultural heritage, products
and services with reasonable and negotiable
prices, a hub for mass transit and vitality,
and a Dubai that you could never experience
in a high-end shopping mall? The simple
answer is Al-Satwa. Al-Satwa reflects the
Dubai that exists behind the city’s glamorous
image. This place embodies within its
fabric the simplicity, diversity, and people
that are necessary to animate any physical
space and make it a desired destination.
Thousands of people visit Al-Satwa every
day to work, entertain, and seek household
353
 URBAN VIOLENCE
necessities. Every day of the week, Satwa’s
commercial corridor and adjoining streets are
full of human animation: people hawking,
shopping, eating, and congregating on the
sidewalks and even in the streets (see figure
2). Crowds gather in Al-Satwa to shop,
browse, discover, gawk, get a cheap haircut
and a shave, tint a car window, buy Pakistani
or Iranian bread, eat ethnic foods, buy fresh
fruit and vegetables, get their spices ground,
get their shoes shined and repaired, or just
stand at a street corner and people-watch.
Al-Satwa appears to be a centre of spon-
taneity and social vitality as well as a diverse
economic landscape. It is a generous place
where strangers and non-strangers gather,
mingle, and interact. It is also a place in which
a variety of ethnic groups meet with tolerance
and respect. According to Elsheshtawy (2011,
p. 19), Al Satwa ‘evokes a poignant sense
of realness and humanity’. Undoubtedly,
Al-Satwa is a humble and vibrant district that
holds many stories, communal memories, and
significant cultural inheritance. I observed
and documented the transformation and con-
dition of Al-Satwa over nine years through
in-depth fieldwork. I knocked on doors,
spoke with business owners, chatted with
occupants and visitors, took photos, and used
the sidewalks and streets extensively during
the day and night. As a result, I was able to
record a series of photographs and stories
detailing residents’ lives and the changing
landscape of this location.
Demographic History and Shift
My own observations over the course of
several years reflected the transformation
of Al-Satwa from a family-oriented neigh-
bourhood into place massively populated by
single immigrants. In the 1970s and 1980s,
this area housed a vibrant community of
close-knit residences on 50 x 50 ft (15 x 15
m) plots, but today, the old community is
partially eroded and destroyed. In the early
1990s, this housing district transformed into
an area where labourers live. Two factors
354
account for this demographic transition.
First, the mid-1990s saw a boom in the area’s
construction, service, and retail sectors, which
brought large groups of expatriates from the
Indian subcontinent and the Philippines. As
the city did not have sufficient infrastructure
and appropriate housing to accommodate this
large demographic segment, many of the new
immigrants occupied the older national hous-
ing districts, such as Al-Satwa and Al-
Rashidiya, which had originally been design-
ed for citizens in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Second, in the late 1990s, Dubai Municipality
planned new subsidized residential areas
such as Al-Barsha and Al-Warqa with larger
lots (150 x 100 ft [45 x 30 m]) for the native
population. Accordingly, many citizens moved
from their traditional neighbourhoods, such
as Al-Satwa, to those suburbs and leased
their houses to labourers and low-income
workers, most of whom had come from India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, or the Philippines.
Although the land in the new neighbour-
hoods was subsidized, some UAE families
could not afford the construction cost of
a new residence and so stayed in the old
neighbourhood among the working class.
Many members of the bedoon, a segment of
the population whose ancestors had migrated
from the Persian coast and Zanzibar and who
had no valid national identity documentation,
also remained in the area (Elsheshtawy,
2008). When the Dubai-based real estate firm
took over the place in 2007 and compensated
the original residents, a second wave of
migration to the suburban areas occurred.
The compensation provided a fair amount of
money (around $1 million), which enabled
many families to lease their houses and move
into bigger ones in the suburbs. However,
the recession in 2008 left the firm unable to
compensate the small number of remaining
native residents who still lived among the
working-class immigrants.
Al-Satwa Housing
Al-Satwa’s urban morphology is best de-
BUILT  ENVIRONMENT   VOL  40   NO  3
 URBAN REDEVELOPMENT TRAUMA: THE STORY OF A DUBAI NEIGHBOURHOOD

scribed by its traditional courtyard housing
forms, its mid- to low-rise buildings, its inter-
connected street systems, and the mass of
narrow alleyways which occupy approxi-
mately 13 per cent of the area (Dubai Muni-
cipality, 1995) (see figure 3). Because Al-Satwa
was originally planned for households and
families, it is illegal to rent to single people;
however, the city has not enforced this
prohibition due to the lack of proper housing
stock for working-class immigrants, many of
whom are single or have left their families in
their home nations. As a result, the city’s old
neighbourhoods have become ethnic enclaves
of immigrant labourers. These labourers
typically find their living environment
satisfactory and attractive.
During the course of my research, the
occupancy level in this old district reached
around forty to fifty workers per house of
2,500 ft2 (232 m2) (a typical house size in
Al-Satwa). The number of tenants per room
now ranges from four to eight, depending on
the room size (figure 4). The price of renting
one bed in such a house as indicated by
research participants and as observed from
advertisement flyers, ranges from $68 to
$136 per month. Rental prices of a full room
range from $545 to $1,090 per month. Rooms
and bed spaces in apartment buildings
appear to cost more. For example, the cost
of renting bed space in an apartment ranges
from $163 to $217 per month. This higher
range is typically due to the small number of
occupants in flats. Specifically, the variation
in rental prices is based on four major
factors: the unit type (single-family house or
apartment); the size of the room; the number
of occupants per room; and whether the space
is an upper deck or lower deck. Upper decks,
known by Filipinos as baba, which means down
or low, tend to cost about $30 less than cabins on
lower decks, known to Filipinos as taas, meaning
highness or superior. Research participants
indicated that these rates are fairly affordable
when compared to rental prices in adjacent
low-income neighbourhoods.
Demolition and Displacement as
Urban Violence
The government originally planned Al-Satwa
in the late 1960s; it was primarily intended to
provide subsidized housing for local families.
The district sits only a few hundred feet away
from Dubai’s new downtown corridor along
Sheikh Zayed Road. Since the early 1990s, a
spectacular number of contemporary high-
rises have been built alongside this stretch
of highway, resulting in shifts in the city‘s
skyline, image, and centre (Elsheshtawy,
2004). This section of Dubai is a strong ex-

Figures 3 and 4. A paved alleyway with traditional single-family units on the right and mid-rise buildings
on the left; A photo montage showing the interior of a typical house in Al Satwa. The bottom-right photo
shows a mix of Indian and Bengali labourers with bunk beds in a room of 10 x 10 feet (3 x 3 m).

BUILT  ENVIRONMENT   VOL  40   NO  3 355
 URBAN VIOLENCE

Figure 5. Contrasting urbanism: Al-Satwa with its traditional fabric and housing style in the foreground,
and Dubai’s new, modern downtown corridor in the background.

ample of class and spatial segregation. But
at the same time, it also attests to Dubai’s
urban diversity (Kaabour, 2008), and to the
‘resilience of human spirit’ (Elsheshtawy,
2011, p. 30) (see figure 5).
In 2007, the government allocated this
traditional urban neighbourhood a Dubai-
based real estate investment company with
instructions to knock down the area and
replace it with a luxurious development.
Detailed plans were announced: the area
would be turned into ‘Jumeirah Garden
City’, a private development composed of
high-end hotels and skyscrapers. Once the
firm took charge in 2007, it started knocking
down the buildings. The once bustling,
dense, and dynamic area was slowly reduced
to rubble (see figure 6). Many low-income
workers moved to surrounding areas such
as Al Jafiliya, Al Bada, Al-Karama, and the
western part of Al-Satwa. Additionally, all
people who owned property in the area
were compensated (around $1 million per
household).
In 2008, demolition work was postponed
because Dubai took a significant hit in the
recession. Due to the global economic decline,
the development was deferred indefinitely.
The firm is now focusing on adjusting its
master plan to accelerate development when
the real estate market stabilizes. Nelson
(2010) argues that if this central location is
offered as a freehold zone for towers and
high-end urbanism, it will have a ripple
effect over adjacent traditional areas. If this
expectation is correct, then the destruction

356 BUILT  ENVIRONMENT   VOL  40   NO  3
 URBAN REDEVELOPMENT TRAUMA: THE STORY OF A DUBAI NEIGHBOURHOOD

of diverse central neighbourhoods will headed towards an era of ‘urban amnesia’

become an ‘accepted norm’ in Dubai’s urban
redevelopment agenda (Kaabour, 2008).
The destruction of this vibrant and pedes-
trian-oriented neighbourhood represented
a massive loss to Dubai’s heritage and
diversity. I argue that this loss constitutes a
form of urban violence in that it eliminates
diversity, removes low-income housing
options, displaces people, and disregards
the city’s old fabric. Al-Satwa, indeed, is
Dubai’s radical first attempt to replace inner-
city cores with privatized mega-projects.
Al-Satwa paved the way for the massive
‘deconstruction-reconstruction’ agenda to
become an accepted norm across Dubai.
When massive zones of this area were flat-
tened, observers claimed that Dubai was
and rupture (Kaabour, 2008).
Al-Satwa, despite its vibrancy and history,
is currently in serious jeopardy. The worst
problem is that the neighbourhood’s future
is vulnerable and uncertain. One of the
major benefits of the recession in 2008 was
the delay of the proposed exaggerated devel-
opment. But today, this vulnerable area
might not be subject to necessary restoration
or preservation. Dubai recently won its bid
to organize the Expo 2020, a universal scale
exposition, and that means that Dubai’s
urban development will soon resume its over-
heated pace.
Economists believe that preparations for
this event will strongly amplify investment
in Dubai in the years leading up to the event.

Figure 6. Eastern section of Al Satwa in August 2008 showing the rubble and demolition work. This area
looks exactly the same today, in 2014. The Dubai-based firm, Meraas, has announced that the area will
remain largely vacant until further notice.

BUILT  ENVIRONMENT   VOL  40   NO  3 357
 URBAN VIOLENCE

According to HSBC Global Research, Dubai
is prepared to devote up to US$7.1 billion to
infrastructure and development initiatives
for this global event (Al Tuwaijri and Sharaf,
2013). In light of this expected recovery in
the real estate market, the development
of Jumeirah Garden City project might be
accelerated to suit market operations. This
means that the Dubai-based firm might stride
over the remaining sections of Al-Satwa
as well as the adjacent locations, putting
this unique and traditional area at risk of
demise. Recently, dome major Dubai-based
firms, such as Meraas and Dubai Properties,
recently began the process of market-driven
displacement by demolishing and re-
developing several central neighbourhoods
near Al-Satwa. These neighbourhoods have
included old areas, such as the police per-
sonnel neighbourhood which will be replaced
by the City Walk development, and some
new neighbourhoods, such as sections of
Al-Wasel, Al-Safa, and Jumeirah which will
be displaced by the Business Bay Canal (see
figure 7).
The Psychological Trauma of Disruption
of a Cultural Home as Urban Violence
So far, this article has discussed one kind
of urban violence embedded within the
story of Al-Satwa: the removal of the old
city fabric for the sake of business and con-
sumption interests only and the displacement

Figure 7. A photo montage showing the removal of additional centrally-located traditional neighbourhoods.
The background of the first three photos includes Burj Khalifa, while the foreground shows signs of Meraas’s
‘City Walk’ development, destined to provide high-end residential units and top-notch outdoor lifestyle
facilities. The City Walk will replace a traditional Dubai neighbourhood known as ‘Police Personnel’ that
houses large number of Dubai’s police officers and employers. Half of this neighbourhood has been razed,
and the other half will disappear at the end of 2014. The neighbourhood’s dense and traditional fabric
surrounded by construction cranes and rubbles are shown in the bottom-right photo.

358 BUILT  ENVIRONMENT   VOL  40   NO  3
 URBAN REDEVELOPMENT TRAUMA: THE STORY OF A DUBAI NEIGHBOURHOOD
of low-income residents. This section
describes another form of urban violence
that I observed during my fieldwork –
psychological violence related to the
uncertain future of this unique area and the
disruption of a valued ethnic neighbourhood.
The economic decline brought with it a
temporary respite for Al-Satwa’s admirers
and supporters, but Dubai is now witnessing
a gradual financial recovery which may
challenge the survival of this unique land-
scape in the future.
Field observation and interviews reveal
that current occupants, shop workers, and
business operators (mainly from India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Philippines)
have a great sense of belonging and nostalgic
attachment to the area. They are very satisfied
with their living arrangements, and Al-Satwa
has become dear to them. They attribute their
sense of appreciation and connection to the
area to the following factors: (1) its strategic
location; (2) its abundance of affordable and
diverse housing options; (3) its abundance
of job opportunities; (4) its accessible and
convenient resources for meeting basic daily
needs; and (5) its proximity to facilities and
public transportation services. Demolishing
the area will deprive many low-income
workers of the living environment that they
value highly. Moreover, the removal of this
traditional area will cause a massive cultural
loss, will eliminate diversity in Dubai’s urban
fabric, and will deprive Dubai’s residents of a
vibrant pedestrian culture full of events and
services.
At present, Al-Satwa offers a slice of
home for thousands of low-income workers.
Message boards on alleyway walls and
street lights reflect the ethnic spirit of the
district as they advertise accommodation ‘for
Filipinos, Pakistanis, Indians, and Bengalis’.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Satwa’s
dynamic retail corridor served residents
without orientation towards specific ethnic
groups. The dramatic influx of the Indian
and South Asian immigrants transformed
the area into an ethnic urban setting that
BUILT  ENVIRONMENT   VOL  40   NO  3
predominantly serves this particular group.
Today, Al-Satwa is cherished by thousands
of Filipinos, Indians, and Pakistanis who
mingle in restaurants or while standing at a
bus stop or shopping in a number of ethnic
supermarkets and stores (Elsheshtawy, 2008).
During my research, I paid attention to
the current residents’ love and appreciation
of their neighbourhood, and specifically their
sense of how well it serves their needs and
creates a sense of cultural home. I observed
the places where Al-Satwa residents met and
interacted with each other and with their
neighbourhood. People from the Indian
subcontinent, the majority of whom are
Muslim, usually socialize with each other
on Al-Satwa’s streets and alleyways, as well
as at mosques after prayers. This population
segment also has a huge appetite for cricket,
which is practiced regularly by children
and adults in Al-Satwa’s alleyways and on
vacant land. According to some participants,
this game brings the community together
and truly transforms ‘their busy day into a
day of entertainment’, excitement, and joy.
This group of workers also comes together
in Al-Satwa’s Bus Terminal Plaza and in
Al-Satwa’s numerous Indian and Pakistani
eateries (figure 8). The area features two
restaurant chains: Ravi and Karachi Darbar.
Ravi has three locations in Al-Satwa and has
been in the area for more than 30 years. This
legendary Indian restaurant earned a visit
from ‘Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations’,
an American travel and food show. In the
Dubai episode, Bourdain uncovered the sim-
ple side of Dubai by exploring this historical
Indian restaurant situated in the heart of
Al-Satwa. In the same episode, Bourdain
visited some of Dubai’s finest high-end
restaurants, such as Gordon Ramsay’s Verre
Dubai Restaurant. The contrast between these
restaurants exemplifies Dubai’s diversity.
The lifestyle of the Filipino population, on
the other hand, centres on different types
of entertainment. Members of this ethnic
group congregate in four major destinations.
The top two, as many interviewees said,
359
 URBAN VIOLENCE

Figure 8. A photo montage showing the Indian subcontinents residents’ attachment to Al-Satwa. From left
to right: (1) A group of Pakistani people playing cricket in east Satwa. Dubai’s downtown corridor is shown
in the background; (2) a group of residents socializing at an outdoor setting area of a mosque; (3) some
residents interacting in front of their store at Satwa’s commercial strip; and (4) congregation at Satwa’s bus
terminal plaza.

are Al-Maya Supermarket and New West
Zone Supermarket, both of which operate
twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week
and sell a variety of Filipino products and
foods. According to one study participant,
Al-Maya Supermarket is the ‘most favourite’
place because it offers ‘Filipino pork and
fish’, which cannot be found anywhere
else in Dubai. These places also offer some
community services, such as a monitored
advertising board where Filipinos can post
advertisements for free. Both stores, indeed,
function as community centres for the neigh-
bourhood’s Filipino population (figure 9).
Other areas where Filipinos interact
include: (1) Filipino eateries and bakeries dis-
persed in many locations; one example is
Pan de Manila (‘bread of Manila’), a bakery
franchise which sells Filipino refreshments
and pandesel (‘salt bread’); (2) the Open Beach,
which is 2 kilometres away from Al-Satwa; (3)
the Al-Karam area, which is easily accessible
by public transport and features a number of
bars that serve alcohol at reasonable prices;
and (4) unexpectedly, the new downtown
corridor along Sheikh Zayed Road, with
its variety of fast-food eateries and coffee
shops. This downtown area offers amenities
and high-end apartments for high-income
people, but during weekends, I observed
hundreds of Filipinos socializing in the
area’s American chain restaurants, including
McDonald’s, Burger King, Starbucks, Pizza
Hut, Applebee’s, and Tim Horton. The last
franchise attracts the lion’s share of Filipino
customers due to its affordable coffee and
food prices compared with Starbucks.
International media reports describe low-

360 BUILT  ENVIRONMENT   VOL  40   NO  3
 URBAN REDEVELOPMENT TRAUMA: THE STORY OF A DUBAI NEIGHBOURHOOD

Figure 9. A photo montage showing Filipino residents’ attachment to the neighbourhood. From Left to
right: (1) Filipino crowds at the entrance of Al-Maya Supermarket; (2) Filipinos shopping and browsing
at Al Hudaiba Street, informally known as Manila; (3) Filipinos socializing at Kabayan restaurant; and
(4) Filipino congregation at West Zone Supermarket; (‘Turo Turo’) means ‘to point,’ a slang for fast food
restaurant where customers quickly point to what to order from the displayed dishes.

income workers as facing ruthless conditions,
a variety of abuses, and a lack of rights.
Despite that, my research revealed a great
sense of respect and appreciation among
Al-Satwa’s residents towards their living en-
vironment and work. Historically, workers
have faced some mistreatment related to pay-
ment of salaries and lack of facilities, but in
recent years, the government drafted new
laws forbidding any kind of exploitation.
Everyone I spoke with during my field
research gave the impression of being proud
and delighted to be in Dubai (see figure
10). Their central concern was confined to
one major question: what happens to low-
income workers and their heritage if in
future, developers demolish historically sig-
nificant neighbourhoods such as Al-Satwa?
This feeling among Satwa’s ethnic com-
munity leads to the argument that when

Figure 10. A Bengali worker reveals his love and appreciation for Dubai by wearing an ‘I love Dubai’
T-shirt.

BUILT  ENVIRONMENT   VOL  40   NO  3 361
 URBAN VIOLENCE
residents are very satisfied with their current
neighbourhood, it would be a form of
psychological and economic violence to raze
the neighbourhood and disrupts its residents.
Psychological Trauma:
A Neighbourhood on Hold
My research findings indicate high levels of
happiness and satisfaction among Al-Satwa’s
residents. But they also reveal a layer of
distress among both residents and advocates
concerning the neighbourhood’s future. This
area is facing a constant threat of removal,
and its residents and business owners have
few resources to find alternative affordable
locations. This transitional stage is causing
anxiety, psychological violence, and cultural
loss. Many generations were born and raised
in this neighbourhood; the area is precious
to many people across Dubai. It is also dear
to its current residents, many of whom are
low-income workers who find in this place
the spirit and vitality of their home country.
Interview data demonstrate tangible con-
cerns among Al-Satwa residents regarding
Satwa’s chance of persistence. I met people
who had lived in this community for decades
and felt that they knew it better than they
knew their hometown. For example, Jalal
and Taj, both truck drivers from Pakistan,
noted the uniqueness of Al-Satwa’s urban
environment and life. Both had lived in Dubai
for fifty years and in Al-Satwa for thirty.
They attested to their devotion and loyalty
to the place. They said, ‘If this place is gone,
we will retire and go home.’ They claimed
that it is ideal for low-income workers and
particularly for truck drivers because there
is an abundance of spaces where drivers can
park their trucks for free. No other place
in Dubai provides free parking for heavy
automobiles, buses, and trucks; therefore,
if the remaining part of Al-Satwa is razed,
many low-income drivers will lose the benefit
of an efficient, nearby place to park.
Another study participant, Iqbal, from
Pakistan, also spoke of Al-Satwa as unique.
362
Iqbal had lived in Dubai for thirty-five
years and in Al-Satwa for twenty. He ran an
appliance-repair shop and lived five minutes’
walking distance from work. He said:
I am in love with this community; I raised my
children and I started my business here. What
is really unique about this place is that we meet
our needs on foot and there is an abundance of
facilities offered around. All you need is just to
choose from the wide range of offers and deal
Iqbal expressed serious concern and dis-
tress about the possibility of developers
razing the retail strip and western section of
Al-Satwa. He said that replacing old places
with modern monumental buildings is an
‘offbeat’ practice. He continued, ‘I really can-
not imagine Dubai without Satwa.’ He also
said, ‘I will lose my business and income if
developers raze Al-Satwa.’ Similar thoughts
were shared by Suliman, an Indian study
participant, who ran a grocery store and
had lived in the area for twenty-three years.
He said, ‘I am very sad about the demise of
the eastern side of Satwa.’ He added that he
thought that there should be some old areas
where housing and services are ‘affordable’
and that Dubai should not be entirely con-
verted to ‘new’; Al-Satwa, he said, shows
part of Dubai’s ‘heritage’ which is full of
dynamism, smell, activity, and eagerness.
Salman, the owner of a thrift clothing store,
shared similar opinions. He mentioned, ‘I feel
unsecured and I am stressed of losing my
business’ since the removal of west Satwa.
Salman owns two stores in Al-Satwa and he
showed a serious sense of fear and insecurity
about the unknown future of the area. This
study participant also mentioned, ‘I just need
a transparent answer: whether this area will
remain as is or it will be demolished.’
Mohammad, from Pakistan, also spoke
of the distinctiveness of Al-Satwa and of its
chance to survive. He had lived in the area
for fourteen years and ran a pet shop selling
birds, fish tanks, and pet supplies. He showed
a strong sense of affection and attachment to
the place and said, ‘There will be no place
like this ever.’ Mohammad bluntly argued
BUILT  ENVIRONMENT   VOL  40   NO  3
 URBAN REDEVELOPMENT TRAUMA: THE STORY OF A DUBAI NEIGHBOURHOOD
that Al-Satwa is the ‘pounding heart’ of
Dubai and is an indication of ‘fairness’ to
low-income workers. He also mentioned that
any plan that harms the area will eliminate
a place that holds communal memory and
a great sense of cultural home. Mohammad
explained that the community and business
owners in Al-Satwa are worried about the
future. The neighbourhood is ‘on hold’ and is
under ‘demolition threat’, and this is causing
distress and disruption among the com-
munity, especially among the ones who have
lived for many years in the neighbourhood.
Mohammad and several other research
participants also spoke of the uniqueness
of Al-Satwa. In particular, they emphasized
Satwa’s dense urban form, high degree of
accessibility, affordability, and ‘proximity
to facilities’. They stated that Al-Satwa has a
strong identity based on its central location
between Dubai’s southern and northern
districts. They also said that because of
Al-Satwa’s ‘centrality, effective transporta-
tion services, and large stock of affordable
housing’, it is the preferred living environ-
ment for workers in the service and retail
sectors. Participants emphasized that Al-
Satwa is a major ‘transportation hub’. The
area has a bus terminal and numerous bus
routes that carry passengers all over Dubai.
The average amount of time interviewees said
it takes them to walk to a bus stop ranged
from one to five minutes. Confirming these
findings, Dubai’s Road and Transportation
Authority (RTA) classifies Al-Satwa as a major
transportation core and as Dubai’s second
Central Business District (CBD). The RTA
estimates suggest that in 2013, Al-Satwa was
served by 16 bus routes and 192 buses. Buses
operate at headways of ten to fifteen minutes.
Estimates suggest that every day, buses make
1,891 trips to and from Al-Satwa, travelling
43,972 km. This comprehensive network
carries around 79,401 passengers per day.
Mohammad and Ali, Syrian participants
who had lived in the area with their family
for fourteen years, spoke of the cultural
familiarity that Al-Satwa offered them. They
BUILT  ENVIRONMENT   VOL  40   NO  3
owned a store that sold home décor, fabrics,
and furniture; they lived in the eastern
part of Al-Satwa, which houses a huge Fili-
pino population. I asked them ‘is this area com-
monly known as “Manila”?’ They responded,
‘indeed, [it is].’ They said, take ‘a taxi’ from
any section of Dubai and tell the driver to
take you to Manila; without any question, he
will drop you at the Al-Maya Supermarket, a
major Filipino supermarket. Many observers
(Elsheshtawy, 2008; Nelson, 2010) and
research participants confirmed this sense
of the ethnic orientation of this part of the
neighbourhood. For example, Mathias, from
the Philippines, had lived in labour accom-
modation for many years. Recently, he had
moved to Al-Satwa to see and live among
‘Kabayan’, which means fellow countrymen.
This term is also used by Philippines
nationals to express their love and respect
for each other. Joebin and Maria, two Filipino
research participants, similarly expressed
their sense of the area’s ethnic orientation:
We live in Al-Satwa since 2007. It really feels
like home now; we speak Tagalog, eat Filipino
food and bread, live with mainstream Filipino
population, and ride a bus with majority Filipinos.
What else is needed to feel like home? Satwa is
highly accessible to all necessities. It takes us less
than one minute to reach our bus stop to go to
work, and it takes us less than five minutes to
find an authentic Filipino eatery; we couldn’t
ask for more… The major concern we have is
the possibility of losing Al-Satwa in light of the
recovery that Dubai is witnessing now.
Interviewees painted a picture of Al-Satwa
as original, fair, and vibrant. For example,
the two Syrian participants repeatedly said
that Al-Satwa’s commercial strip is the most
‘attractive and striking street’ in Dubai. They
said that the street was full of excitement,
movement, stories, and people ‘all over the
day’ and that no matter what time it was,
Satwa remained full of life with its unique
urban tissue and colourful glittering stores,
illuminated by glowing fluorescent tubes and
neon lights. Satwa’s vibrancy, in every sense,
reminded them of Damascus’s tight urban
fabric and street vitality. They also described
363
 URBAN VIOLENCE
Al-Satwa as a ‘humble and unpretentious’
urban environment. They said that people in
Al-Satwa walk shoulder to shoulder and look
up to each other, and that no one is better
than the others; all people are equal.
These thoughts were affirmed by
Mohammad, from Bangladesh, who works at
a restaurant and cycles ten minutes to work
every day. Mohammad said that Al-Satwa is
an indication of ‘simplicity, humbleness’, and
modesty in urban Dubai. He said, ‘everyone
is nice and good to me; we are all alike in
this neighbourhood; we work together,
eat together, walk together, and share our
concerns and happiness with each other.’
The indigenous population still maintains
a slight presence in the area. One research
participant, for example, Aysha, was a
seventy-five-year-old woman who was native
to Dubai and had lived in Al-Satwa for more
than forty years. Aysha said that to live there
meant that being ‘in the heart of everything’.
The demographic transformation of the area
had not caught her attention. She linked
her satisfaction with the neighbourhood to
the availability of services. She argued that
Satwa has a vibrant pedestrian culture which
promotes walkability and physical activity.
She claimed that this was good for her health
because she had diabetes. Aysha had raised
ten children in this place. When I spoke with
her, she was living with three of her children;
the rest had moved to the suburbs with their
families. Her children constantly asked her to
leave her old house and move with them, but
she never accepted. She explained,
I cannot substitute this vibrant area with a lifeless
neighbourhood where every single trip is made by
an automobile. I cannot imagine myself without
this area… I really feel stressed about the fate of
this area since the 2007 destruction process. The
pressure on me increased by the recent recovery
in the market… This area should be maintained
not demolished… I lived the most beautiful period
of my life here; I have a lot of memories, and I
hope more memories come along in this place; not
anywhere else.
Although interviewees indicated a high
degree of contentment with their living con-
364
ditions, I noted a collective anxiety and stress
regarding the impending destiny of their
neighbourhood. All participants condemned
any plan that would remove this unique,
traditional neighbourhood. They indicated
that cities should maintain old buildings
and traditional life patterns. The emergence
of towers in this place, they argued, would
deprive Dubai’s people as well as visitors
of its matchless flavour. They described the
neighbourhood as a ‘safe haven’ for low-
income workers. One participant said that
no other place would have the ‘capacity’ to
accommodate large groups of low-income
workers. Another participant said that on
‘behalf of all low-income workers, we will be
devastated if this community is disappeared’.
He said that the removal of this area will
increase housing prices in surrounding
areas, because migration waves to alternate
locations will rise steeply. One participant
stated that the city and developers should
take a closer look and make a wiser decision
regarding the future of the area. Another
participant asked, what the reasons were
for making everything in Dubai new and
expensive? She continued, saying that there
should be sections of the city to serve lower-
income people. All participants concurred
that Al-Satwa should be ‘preserved’ as a
‘historic site’ that represents Dubai’s culture
of diversity and choice.
Discussion: Satwa and Urban Violence
This article offers an evidence-based theo-
retical contribution to the concept of urban
violence. Specifically, the case of Al-Satwa
demonstrates that urban violence is not just
overt physical conflict between members of
the population. Instead, urban violence can
also include top-down government-corporate
projects that upset the lives of residents. The
article introduces a concept of urban violence
that focuses on ways that city planners,
developers, and decision-makers can harm
city residents. I discuss several dimensions
of this kind of city-sponsored urban violence:
BUILT  ENVIRONMENT   VOL  40   NO  3
 URBAN REDEVELOPMENT TRAUMA: THE STORY OF A DUBAI NEIGHBOURHOOD
(1) destruction of cultural city fabrics and
displacement of residents; (2) disruption of
much-valued ethnic enclaves and economic
resources for an underprivileged segment
of the population; and (3) creation of an
atmosphere of uncertainty that itself consti-
tutes a form of psychological violence.
When Jumeirah Gardens was designed to
replace Al-Satwa and adjacent locations, no
one anticipated an economic crisis. When
the unexpected crisis reached its peak in
2008, construction ceased. Today, Dubai-
based mega-firms are again turning their
eyes towards capitalizing on the old core
areas surrounding the downtown corridor
along Sheikh Zayed Road. The people living
in these areas will be hit directly by resumed
development, which typically appears
suddenly and without warning. Preparation
for Expo 2020 will raise speculation and boost
the real estate sector once again. Historically,
the market promotes the development of
Dubai as an extravagant place for business
and elite groups, rather than as a place of
preservation, modesty, and the sensitive
occupation of land. For this reason, it would
be unusual if this site were to be preserved
and maintained.
Al-Satwa and its surrounding districts are
close to Dubai’s downtown corridor. The
nature and morphology of the redevelopment
plans, typically described as investment-
driven projects, support other scholars’ argu-
ments about developments of central areas
in cities. For example, Frieden and Sagalyn
(1989) argue that urban land surrounding
downtown areas or business districts are
major assets controlled by the government
and private investors. Dubai’s redevelopment
actions also support Hu’s (2013) ‘growth
machine theory’ of downtown expansion;
Hu argues that the growth and operation
of central areas are primarily controlled by
business elites. Another point is that Dubai’s
redevelopment practice touches upon Hu’s
(2013) focus on ‘privatism-dominated thesis’,
which portrays the issue of market-driven
urbanism designed and developed to fulfil
BUILT  ENVIRONMENT   VOL  40   NO  3
the desire and needs of exclusive personnel.
This research reflects how Dubai’s core
areas are controlled by public-private busi-
ness leaders and demonstrates how top-
down planning thoughts and actions, when
they merely favour high-end people and
fast investment return, can be a form of
urban violence with a traumatic effect on
low-income individuals. Participants in this
study expressed a strong sense of belonging
to the neighbourhood, satisfaction with the
neighbourhood and their homes, and appre-
ciation of the local environment. Bramley
et al. (2010) argue that these factors are
core indicators of social stability. Going
much further back, the Greek philosopher
Plato said that the ideal city must mitigate
against exploitation and must provide ‘shelter,
protection, and most importantly happiness’
to its residents (Plato, as cited in Ghazal,
2013). For this reason, I argue that Dubai
is enacting a type of urban violence by
knocking down Al-Satwa to expand the city’s
commercial realty and high-end lifestyle
facilities. The dimensions of this violence
include eliminating physical areas that carry
strong emotional memories, demolishing the
old city fabric to benefit business interests,
displacing residents and employees, de-
priving Dubai of a unique and vigorous
place, disregarding traditional lifestyles
and urban fabrics, and disrupting residents’
sense of satisfaction and security by creating
confusion about the neighbourhood’s future.
Conclusion
This article shows how top-down urban
planning, when it only prioritizes developers’
interests and short-term economic-gain,
can be a form of urban violence. The study
demonstrates how important Al-Satwa is
to its current residents, how much better it
was before its partial demolition, how much
its current residents love it, how deserved
this love is, and therefore how wrong it
is to demolish it and distress people for
the sake of high-end reconstruction. All
365
 URBAN VIOLENCE
participants in this study concurred that
Al-Satwa – especially its commercial and
residential strip – must be conserved and
well-maintained. The kind of development
that would meet these requirements would
involve densification and infill projects
on vacant land. Hence, a very important
question that this case study raises is: How
can this neighbourhood be retrofitted to
include a variety of uses, housing, and public
spaces designed for different kinds of people?
Social tolerance may be an issue of concern
for the government and families. In that case,
it would make sense to propose both design
and policy strategies to deal more effectively
with the issue of proximity patterns between
single people and families and between
different ethnic groups. Such planning
could demonstrate the possibility for a more
socially sustainable future for the city.
Envisioning a new kind of urbanism for
Dubai is not an easy task, especially when the
goal is to respond to a wide range of incomes,
family types, and demographic groups.
Therefore, Dubai’s government should draft
new arrangements and monitored decrees
to regulate investors whose priority is to
expanding the commercial and superlative
appearance of Dubai rather than to build
a sustainable urban environment. Dubai
urgently needs a massive urban planning
and preservation overhaul; the city should
add necessary repairs and restoration to its
forthcoming development agenda. This action
will add legitimacy to development efforts
and will go a long way towards providing
transparency and clarity to the public.
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