Dubai is one of seven emirates that form the UAE - the United Arab Emirates - in the Middle East. Dubai is second to neighboring emirate, Abu Dhabi, in geographic size, but is number one in population. In recent years, the landscape of Dubai has shown dramatic changes.
Though it has been in existence for well over a century, Dubai only opened itself to foreign real estate investors in 2002. Since that time, the landscape has changed remarkably due to the rapid property evolution it’s undergone. Man-made islands, skyscrapers taller than anything in New York City, and more residential property than you can imagine, has turned this Persian Gulf emirate into something that would be nearly extraterrestrial-in-nature to occupants from the 1800s.
Currently, Burj Dubai is the tallest man-made structure in the world and it’s not even yet completed. As of September 1, 2008, Burj Dubai stood at 688 meters (2,257 feet). Construction of this property in Dubai’s Business Bay is expected to take roughly five years, total. The cost of the construction is rumored to be over four billion U.S. dollars.
Construction projects in Dubai, such as this, have led to Dubai’s continuing to host an annual Cityscape Dubai event. This event has attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world, and is marketed as “the largest business-to-business real estate investment and development event in the world.” This year’s event, the seventh annual, will be held from October 6-9, 2008, at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre.
As with any rapidly-changing landscape, the impact on Dubai will be felt in many areas. The impact is financial, environmental, and physical. Some of the impact is good, some is not.
Anytime you increase an area’s population, you are also increasing its footprint on the ecosystem. Dubai is no different than any other area that has made way for technology, industry, and real estate. Natural growth of flora and fauna has and will continue to be impacted.
Human output, in terms of sewage, garbage, and other forms of pollution, will also have an impact. Dubai is not a magic land where garbage will disappear, leaving no longer-term impact on its environment. The possibility exists for illegal dumping into the Persian Gulf and the same overflowing landfills that the United States suffers with.
The hot climate of Dubai also leads to plentiful air conditioning, much of the year. This will impact the region in terms of increasing growth of energy usage. Similarly, though Dubai is feeling some of the profit from high oil and gas prices, they are now feeling the downside.
Since high gas and oil is leading to inflated costs of nearly everything everywhere, Dubai is finding that their spending for new construction materials and anything they have to import is taking a greater chunk of money from them. Stable gas and oil prices will not only benefit the rest of the world, it will eventually help Dubai properties for sale maintain their own stability.
Change and evolution of a landscape is nearly inevitable when people are involved. Change of a landscape can be positive when thought and planning are used to keep things in balance and harmony. Because humans cause the greatest change to a landscape, it is also their responsibility to protect that landscape. Hopefully this is a fact not already lost to Dubai.
