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The Boom: Population and Urban Growth of Dubai City

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DOI: 10.19089/hhss.v2i2.60

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 The Boom: Population and Urban Growth of Dubai City

Fayez M. Elessawy
United Arab Emirates University
f.elessawy@uaeu.ac.ae

Abstract: The total population of Dubai has grown by 1000% over the
last 40 years alone. In 1975 the total population was 183,000 inhabi-
tances, which increased in 2015 to about 2 million. This increase
makes Dubai population one of the fastest growing in the world. In a
related context, the guest workers (immigrants) have profoundly con-
tributed to this population growth since they constituted 91% of the to-
tal population. Dubai is a good example of a rapidly developing city.
Until 1955 Dubai was characterized by its slow growing economy. Its
population lived in traditional houses made of palm fronds with poor
infrastructure. In 1957 Dubai municipality was established and the
first master plan was formed which resulted into the appearance of a
road system and anew town center in addition to the construction of
new modern buildings made of concrete blocks. These buildings
started to emerge at that time. Nevertheless, the urban growth contin-
ued a slow pace. From 1975 to present the urban area expanded enor-
mously, the rapid development of the city transforms Dubai from a
small regional business, financial and leisure hub into a global center.
During the last two decades Dubai built up area expanded like never
before, the economic growth accelerated and so did the investment
level, more development projects were planned to support the urban
growth. The total built up area increased from only 54 square Kms in
1975 to 977 square Kms in 2015, as Dubai increased (1700 % in only
38 years) that high percentage make Dubai one of the fastest growing
cities in the world.

Key Words: Dubai. Economic boom, Guest workers, Asians, Infra-

structure, Built up area, global business hub

Introduction

Since 1973 in the aftermath of the establishment of the United Arab Emi-
rates, the country has received large numbers of immigrant workers whose presence
has dramatically changed the geography of the emerging state. The need for immi-
grant workers coincided with the recent economic boom, which resulted from im-
mense oil revenues. The government invested in colossal Projects, which aimed at
building the country’s infrastructure. Dubai, Abu Dhabi and other large urban cen-
tres witnessed a great boom in population and in urban development.
The size of the population of Dubai was very small until 1975. The majority
of population includes citizen who was engaged in fishing and trade activities.

26
© 2017, Horizons in Humanities and Social Sciences: An International Refereed Journal
HSS-CHSS-UAEU, ISSN 2413-6301
 HORIZONS IN HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 2 (2) 26-41, 2017 27

The total population has grown by 1000% over the last 40years alone. For exam-
ple, in 1975 the total population was 183,000 inhabitants, which increased in 2015 to
more than 2 million. This increase makes Dubai population one of the fastest grow-
ing in the world per the annual rate of population growth. In a related context, for-
eigners or the guest workers (immigrants) have profoundly contribute to this popu-
lation growth since they constituted about 91%of the total population .The guest
workers came from many different countries but mostly from Asia and the Arab
world. Asians, mostly Indians, constitute at least 70% of the total population. The
immigrant population also involves small percentage of European and Ameri-
cans. Apparently, the foreign labourers are engaged in all fields of works. Further,
they play a very significant role in the development of Dubai city.
Dubai is a good example of a rapidly developing city. Until 1955 Du-
bai was characterized by it’s slow grow economy. Its population lived in traditional
houses made of palm fronds with poor infrastructure. In 1957 Dubai municipality
was established and the first master plan was formed which resulted into the appear-
ance of a road system and a new town centre in addition to the construction of new
modern buildings made of concrete blocks. These buildings started to emerge at that
time. Nevertheless, the urban growth continued a slow pace. From 1975 to present
the urban area expanded enormously from the old city centre (Deira) to all direc-
tions particularly after Dubai government had invested more capital in improving
harbours, trade as well as industrial and residential areas, in addition to many finan-
cial centres. The rapid development of the city transforms Dubai from a small re-
gional business, financial and leisure hub into a global centre. During the urbaniza-
tion process, more capital is being invested in several horizontal and vertical build-
ings. Dubai’s skyscrapers rise from the clusters; artificial islands rise from the sea
and the neighbourhoods containing villas and other residential buildings and new
suburbs rise from the desert. During the last two decades Dubai built up area ex-
panded like never before, the economic growth accelerated and so did the investment
level, more development projects were planned to support the urban growth. The
total built up area increased from only 54 square kilometres in 1975 to 977 square
kilometres in 2015, as Dubai increased (1700 % in only 38 years) that high percent-
age makes Dubai one of the fastest growing cities in the world. In brief, Dubai has
undergone significant urban changes and great population growth over the past de-
cades, which transformed it from a small desert trading centre to a global business
hub and economic centre.
The main target of the study is to show how Dubai population increased to
make the city the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, and how its built
–up area extended towards the east to constitute the great metropolitan area. The re-
searcher applied the topical approach with the use of analytical and cartographic
techniques to reach the aims.
The research will throw lights on the following issues:
Geographical background of Dubai city
Population Growth
Urban Growth (Sprawl)

The Geographical Background of Dubai City

Dubai city is located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Gulf, in the
northeast of the United Arab Emirates. Dubai is the most populous city in the United

28 Elessawy: THE BOOM: POPULATION AND URBAN GROWTH

Arab Emirates with an urban area of 3885 sq. km. As shown in Figure1, its geo-
graphic coordinates is between 24 45 15 to 25° 15' 8" North, and from 55 00 00 to
55° 18' 48" East, with very hot humid weather in summer and warm weather in win-
ter. Dubai also, sharing its borders with Abu Dhabi in the west and south and, Shar-
jah city in the northeast and east.

Arabian
Gulf

Figure 1. The Location of Dubai

One of the most fascinating geographical aspects of strategic position which allows
it to connect to all local Gulf States, as well as to East Africa and South Asia, it be-
comes to be a major transport hub for passengers and cargo. Due to the city’s unique
geographical location its International Airport is the primary airport serving Dubai
and United Arab Emirates, it is the world's busiest airport by international passenger
traffic. It is also the 3rd busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic, the 6th
busiest cargo airport in world. In 2015, the Dubai airport handled 78 million passen-
gers, 2.51 million tons of cargo and registered 403,517 aircraft movements (Alliance
Business 2015). Dubai is famous of its Creek, which divides the city into two re-
gions. Dubai Creek is made up of a natural 9.5-mile inlet in the Arabian Gulf, around
which the city’s trade developed. North of the Creek is called Deira, and Bur Dubai
refers to the south where it joins the tourist and residential developments of Jumeirah
along the coast.
Dubai is a bustling centre of excellence; and in addition to being the com-
mercial capital and tourism centre of the region; it is one of the most cosmopolitan
cities in the world. Dubai is where you can see outstanding modern architecture and
 HORIZONS IN HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 2 (2) 26-41, 2017 29

soaring skyscrapers stand alongside suburban villas. Though relatively a new tourist
destination, this number of international overnight visitors to Dubai increased from
12.2 million in 2013, to more than 13.5 million in 2015 (Dubai Government 2015).
Dubai has gained popularity in recent years as one of the great international money
investment centers. Its international taste and unmatched blend of history, tradition
and culture, are well known throughout the world. Dubai has rated as one of the best
places to live, and one of the fastest growing economies, which offer increasing
number of jobs for people from many countries.

Population Growth

Historically, the UAE has suffered lack of clarity and information especially
the period before the year 1975. Most estimates were based on personal assessment
with high variation. The first accurate census was conducted in 1975, which was
considered as the first representative census. More census processes were conducted
later in 1980, 1985, 1995 and more recently the 2005 census (Elessawy, 2001). In
observing various statistic figures and derivations, we notice that the size of the
population of Dubai was very small until the 1950’s period and they mainly real-
ized on personal trade and basic professions as source of income in addition to fish-
ing and pearl collecting. The role of immigrant guest workers in population growth
was not evident until the 1950s, therefore we describe or label this period by the
“slow growth” stage. In fact, an estimation of the population in 1930 indicated a
population of only 20000 inhabitants doubled to be 40 000 in 1960.

Table 1. Population Growth of Dubai city and the UAE (1975-20015)

% of The To- Population
Annual Rate
tal Population Period Year
of Growth %
of UAE U.A. E Dubai

‫ــ‬ 32.8 557,887 183,187 ‫ــ‬ 1975

8.2 26.5 1,042,990 276,301 5 1980

5.9 26.7 1,379,303 370788 5 1985

5.9 27.9 2,410,841 674365 10 1995

6.4 29.8 4,106,427 1,221,453 10 2005

6,5 24.6 9,400.000 2,317,000 10 2015

Source: Computed by the researcher according to census data from Ministries of Planning
and Economy, UAE)
It is noteworthy to argue that the last three decades witnessed exceptional popula-
tion growth following economic and social progress. The discovery of oil and the
increase in its price provided large source of revenues encouraged the government
of Dubai to Establish a good infrastructure in the city at the same time encouraged
money investors from all countries of the world to come to invest in Dubai by fol-
lowing an economic and stimulating policy of tax free investment. Thus, we wit-

30 Elessawy: THE BOOM: POPULATION AND URBAN GROWTH

ness some of the large infrastructure and construction projects in the city, which
also demanded higher work force. The national workforce was not qualified to
meet the demands of these projects and in different areas, the UAE had to rely on
skilled foreign workers from many countries especially Asians. Such dedication of
oil revenue to economic and infrastructure development also provided a better
ground for all other sectors to flourish and hence the need for continuous stream of
foreigner workers to carry on that projects (Crane, 2009). This fast increase, there-
fore, results in unparalleled population growth of around 600% in only 30years
from 1985 to 2015.
In general, based on Table 1, the population of Dubai increased sharply dur-
ing a short period, it was around 183000 persons in 1975, and grew to 1.2 million
in 2005. The estimated total number of the city was nearly 2.3 million persons in
2015, which implies that the size of population has doubled four times in only 30
years. Therefore, we can label this period as “population explosion” stage. Figure
2, shows that incremental growth in population. We note that the largest increase
was over the years 2005/2015 as 109000 people were added annually to the size of
population of the city.

3,000,000

2,500,000

2,000,000
Millions

1,500,000

1,000,000

500,000

0
1975 1980 1985 1995 2005 2015

Figure 2. Growth of the Population of Dubai city between 1975-2015

Obviously, as shown in Figure 2, we can notice that the size of population has in-
creased sharply from 183,187 people in1975 to 2,381 million in 2015 with an annual
rate of increase of almost 6 %. That is mean the total population could be doubled
numerically in short time (about 12 years) therefore we could call this period the
(boom stage of population growth). In fact, Dubai city population growth remains
among the highest rates of the whole world but what are the main factors that con-
tribute to that? Is this growth a result of natural increase? Is it the result of immigra-
tion flows? We can answer these questions by studying the components of the popu-
lation growth in the following investigation of the natural increase and immigration.
 HORIZONS IN HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 2 (2) 26-41, 2017 31

Table 2 Birth and Death Rates and Natural increase in Dubai between in Selected
Years from 1985 – 2015.

Natural
Year Birth Death
increase
1985 29.1 2.9 26.2
1990 21.6 1.7 19.9
1995 21.0 2.0 19.0
2000 17.8 1.6 16.2
2005 13.8 1.3 12.5
2015 13.1 1.01 12.1
Source: Dubai Statistic Centre. 2015 Population and Vital Statists
www.dsc.gov.ae
Natural increase is the key factor of population growth in most countries. However,
in Dubai, the case is different. Statistics showed that natural increase of population
has been declined sharply from 26.2 in 1985 to 12.1 per thousand in 2015. As such,
these declining and low rates of natural increase impossible to be responsible for that
great increase of population of Dubai city. Data of Table 2 and Figure 3, show that
the rates of natural increase for the entire population of Dubai has declined clearly.
The rate of death has dropped to less than 1 per thousand due to the economic and
social development and the improvement in living standards along with good health-
care and education among the Emiratis people, in addition most of the non-nationals
are adults in the age groups (20 - 60) The mortality rate has declined currently to less
than 1.0 per thousands in 2015 and it is considered the lowest death rate in the world.
The decreases in birth rates and natural increase is resulted from the increase
percentage of the foreigners in Dubai compared to the local citizen’s emirates, most
of the immigrants to Dubai are singles and small numbers of them are married but
have small families.

35

32
30 Elessawy: THE BOOM: POPULATION AND URBAN GROWTH

25

20
Birth

15 Death

10

0
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2015

Figure 3. The Declining Birth and Death Rates of Dubai City (per Thousands)
In conclusion, the natural increase is secondary factor in growth of population of
Dubai city compared to the flow of immigration. It is worth mentioning that the im-
migrants play a significant role in population of the UAE society. The role of immi-
gration flow has different influence on demographic composition than natural in-
crease. Natural increase results in an increase in newly born citizens of a specific age
group or decrease due to death at certain age group, both cases happen only once in
person life time. On the other hand, immigration can be of any age group of immi-
grants who are with very diverse characteristics, which in turn has difference influ-
ence on population size, age structure, population redistribution, nationality, eth-
nicity, and culture. Most immigrants are males in middles age who come to meet re-
quirements of the labour market and to fill the need for dynamic and young workers.
The young workers who flow in large numbers to Dubai have certain demographic,
economic, and social characteristics, which had significant impacts on the total
demographic structure and characteristics of the population. From quantitative and
qualitative perspectives, incoming immigrants have certainly played a key role in
pushing forward the wheel of economic development and prosperity across the UAE.
Nevertheless, this flow of immigrants and its resultant demographic influence
on the population is not recent; in fact, the City has always welcomed immigrants
throughout history specially form Iran and India. However, increasing oil revenues
and ongoing development in industry and services has attracted much more diverse
workers (Suleiman & Al Kalisz 1999). Table 3 shows increase from around 132
thousand in 1975 to over one half of a million in 1995, and doubled within the next
ten years to reach a million in 2005. The immigrant flow continues to increase to
reach over 2.212 million in 2015 representing 91% of the total population of the city.

Table 3. The Increasing Number and Percentage of Non National Population in Dubai
from 1975-2015
Years Number of Non-National % of the Total Population
1975 132,371 72.3
1980 213,785 77.4
1985 294,096 79.3
1995 581,679 84.4
2005 1,183,880 89.6
 HORIZONS IN HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 2 (2) 26-41, 2017 33

2015 2,122.372 91.6

Source: Computed from different Censuses of Dubai

Table 3 and Figure 4 show the enormity of the growth in the foreign worker popula-
tion over the last four decades. The increase of the non-national citizens mostly in
young men led to clear demographic, economic, cultural and social features. There-
fore, the effect of foreign immigration with great numbers to the city has left a no-
ticeable unbalanced population composition. About (85 % of Dubai city population
are adults, and the sex ratio is high as 315 males per every 100 female), In contrast
the positive face of immigration is pushing the development wheel and hurry up the
growth of its urban built up area.

100

80

60

40 citzen

20 immigrant

0
1975 1980 1985
1995
2005
2015

Figure 4. The Increasing Role of Immigration in Population Growth of Dubai

It is worth noting that Immigration to Dubai is considered as the largest factor affect-
ing population increase. The role of immigration differs than the role of natural in-
crease in level of influence of size of people, natural increase means adding new
births to population size and they are from a specific category, and they are children
newly born, or due to the death of someone. This fatale matter occurs once in some-
one’s life. Immigration is a phenomenon that could occur multiple times and at any
age stage to any individuals with obvious features. Relying on that, the immigration
to UAE has an important effect in changing the size of population and their features,
in addition to the huge numbers of increase, immigration has an influential role in
causing changes in characteristics and redistributing the population within the city
Most the immigrants to Dubai are male, although the share of women, espe-
cially in the cases of Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Philippines, has increased over
the past few decades. The clear majority of foreign-born workingmen are employed
in low-skilled service sectors, while women are most often employed in domestic
services and retail jobs. The City also attracts large numbers of high-skilled migrants
from many European and Western countries, particularly in the oil and gas, educa-
tion, finance, and investment sectors (Brigitte 2005). Table 4 and Figure 5 show the
dominance of the Asians nationalities.

 34 Elessawy: THE BOOM: POPULATION AND URBAN GROWTH

Table 4. The Percentage of Various Population Nationalities in the Dubai City 2015

Bangladesh
Philippine
Sri Lanka

Pakistan
Emirate
Others

Jordan

China

Nepal

Egypt
Countries

India
Iran
Western

14 3 2 2 3 3 4 5 5 7 9 12 31

Source: Dubai Statistics Centre 2015

Indian ranks first as an exporter of workers to Dubai with nearly one third of the la-
bor force. For instance, Indian, Pakistan and Bangladesh represent 60% of the over-
all foreign worker population. The rest comes from Egypt, Jordan, Iran, Sri Lanka,
Philippines, Nepal, Afghanistan and other Asian nationalities. Workers from the
USA, UK and Europe have increased to reach 3. % of the overall labor force, at the
same time the number of the Emiratis is too little as 9 % only of the total population
of Dubai.

The Urban Growth of Dubai

The recent urban growth in a city like Dubai has led to two important aspects,
population growth and urbanization. Dubai was the fastest-growing city in the world
(Crane, 2009). Whereas population growth is measured in terms of the increase in
the number of people inhabiting in a given area over a certain period of time, urbani-
zation is the process affiliated with population concentration in a specific area.
Urbanization usually proceeds in two ways: the multiplication of point of
concentration and the increase in the size of individual concentration. The latter has
led to urbanization as “Changes in the territorial extent of an area due to developed
transformation of land covers/ land uses from non-developed” (Nasser, 2013). In this
context, this paper explores urbanization from two angles: the level of urbanization
existing situation of a region and time of urbanization, which highlights the trend of
urban development growth.
Dubai city is an appropriate model of a rapidly developing urban settlement
and at the same time, grown to support the ever-increasing human population. The
results indicate a dramatic sprawl and development of its urban area, with a com-
pound annual growth rate of more than 10% over the study period conducted be-
tween 1985 - 2015. It reached its peak of 13.03% as an annual growth during the pe-
riod of 2003–2005, consequently making Dubai one of the fastest growing cities.
This phenomenon has been outpaced by the increase in urban area and the declining
cities in the world. The population growth has been indicating high population den-
sity leading to urban sprawl. The spatiotemporal dynamics of urban growth have
been closely associated with prevailing local and global economic conditions due to
the ambitious development strategies advocated by of the government. Notable as-
pects of this growth, including the substantial increase, can be seen in the unprece-
dented rate of construction of offshore islands and the surrounded deserts. Dubai has
undergone oscillating phases of urban diffusion and coalescence, but with much
more rapid transitions compared to other national and international cities. On these
phases, have been superimposed, showing spatial patterns of development which
 HORIZONS IN HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 2 (2) 26-41, 2017 35

have been recognized elsewhere, but the sequence of patterns appears to be unique in
Dubai. Subsequently, this study provides a new insight into the pace and process of
urban growth in Dubai.
Scrutinized study of urban growth maps of Dubai reveals that the city can
be divided into urban development of four different periods:
The first stage: Urban origin before 1971
The second stage: The Planned Suburban Growth from 1971 - 1984.
The Third Stage: The Modern Construction of Dubai from 1985 – 2003.
The Contemporary Stage: Cities within the city’ mega projects 2004 – 2015.

The First Stage: Urban origins of Dubai before 1971

During the first stage, the inhabitants lived in houses made of palm fronds
and had limited resources which restricted the growth of urban city. In 1955, it only
covered an area of 3.2 square kms. It consisted of three distinct areas along Dubai
creek and the Arabian Gulf (Figure 5). Deira was the largest in terms of size and the
main commercial hub. On the western bank, Bur Dubai and Al Shindagha were
separated by a wide stretch of sand called Ghubaiba. Al Shindagha was situated on a
narrow strip of land, separated by the sea from the creek. It was a small area com-
pared to Deira and was mainly a residential district. However, Bur Dubai was the
smallest area compared to both.
During the second half of the fifties of the twentieth century, there was a
need of formal organization to support the growth of Dubai. Dubai Municipality was
established in 1957 along with its committee members who were top businessmen. A
master plan was formed which resulted in the formation of roads and a new town
centre. Construction workhouses made of concrete blocks began to emerge, along
with the other land use Zones (Nasser, 2013). In the 1950s, the creek began to silt,
due to the increasing number of ships in the harbor. The late Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh
Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, decided to have the waterway dredged as a solution.
It was a costly decision but a visionary project. The decision resulted in increased
volumes of cargo handling in Dubai, ultimately strengthening Dubai's position as a
major trading and re-export hub in the region.
When oil was discovered in 1966, the late Ruler of Dubai utilized its reve-
nues to spur infrastructure development in Dubai. Schools, hospitals, roads, a mod-
ern telecommunications network have been improved and developed further (Afzal,
2008). A new port and terminal building were constructed at Dubai International
Airport. A runway extension that accommodated every type of aircraft was imple-
mented. The largest man-made harbor in the world was constructed at Jebel Ali, and
a free zone was created around the port.
As the first bridge was constructed across Dubai Creek in 1963, most of the
urban developments started to occur around the district of Deira. Since the construc-
tion of the Maktoum Bridge contributed to the formation of the United Arab Emir-
ates, Dubai has expanded primarily towards the East. Thus, much of the urban de-
velopment has sprawled incoherently on the outer fringes of Dubai, along the roads
of Sharjah towards the East and Abu Dhabi city to the West. This change has trans-
formed Dubai into a coastal linear city. However, the urban expansion continued at a
slow pace to reach about 40 square kilometers.

36 Elessawy: THE BOOM: POPULATION AND URBAN GROWTH

3.5 Sq.Km 54.1

Sq.Km

116.9 147.3 Sq
Sq.Km .Km

396.2 976.6
Sq.Km Sq.Km
Figure 5. Urban Area Development of Dubai City from 1955-201

The Second Stage: Planned Suburban Growth from 1971 to 1985

In 1971, the Dubai Emirate became one of the 7 Emirates of United Arab
Emirates. Between 1971 and 1985, a planned suburban growth occurred and a new
master plan for the city was considered. Major transportation developments were
connected to the city districts from both sides of the creek. The major developments
 HORIZONS IN HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 2 (2) 26-41, 2017 37

in the urban structure along with the economic, social and physical growth continued
rapidly during the 1980s.
The economic prosperity of the oil years has helped transform Dubai from a
sleepy fishing village on the Arabian Gulf into a modern prosperous cosmopolitan
city, and development planning for the post-oil decades is designed to continue this
growth process (Paine 2005). The urban area expanded enormously in the city. As
an Emirate, Dubai had more disposal capital due to the oil revenues. After the oil
discovery in 1966, major infrastructure and urban development projects were
planned. Investments were made in improving the current road system, building tun-
nels, bridges, container terminals, and trade harbors as well as industrial and residen-
tial areas. Likewise, financial, business and administrative centers were established
in different parts of the city.
The total built up area of Dubai city increased from 40 square kilometers be-
fore 1971 to 109 square kilometers in 1985. This indicated that 69 square kilometers
had been added to the city during the last 15 years. Figures 5, shows that there has
been a steady growth in new suburbs areas in the city towards Sharjah city (East,
South East, and North East directions). Many new areas were formed such as Al
Qsais, Al Twar, Um Ramool and Al Rashidiya with an area of about 25 square kilo-
meters (36 % of the added new area). At the same time the built up area continued
to grow up in the new suburbs toward Abu Dhabi city (West, North West and South
West direction) as Al Satwa, Al Jaffiliya and Al Jumeirah covered a total area of 30
square kilometers (44 % of the added new areas). The new expansion of Dubai city
toward the Southern direction included new suburbs as Mirdif, Al Warqa, Ras Al
Khur, Al Karama, Zaabeel, Al Satwa and Al Wasl. During that period, the total built
up area added was about 18 square km, representing 30 % of the new expansion of
Dubai city.
Dubai's aggressive development was becoming evident to everyone – this
was due to factors like visionary goal, strong leadership, high-quality infrastructure,
an expatriate-friendly environment, zero tax on personal and corporate income and
low import duties. This resulted in Dubai becoming the main regional business and
tourism hub.

The Third Stage: The Modern Construction of Dubai from 1986 - 2003
In the early 1990s, Dubai took a strategic decision to emerge as a major in-
ternational-quality metropolitan city. The Dubai Urban Area Strategic Plan starting
from 1993 till 2012 was prepared to guide the economic and physical development
of the city, leading to 21st century. One of the key challenges of the plan was to
stimulate cooperation between public and private agencies in their business invest-
ments. The dynamics of the plan represented an effort to provide a spatial framework
for urban growth by indicating planned land use structure. This was done to enhance
tourism in the region and develop a business district, which is within the global
reach. This resulted in urban environment construction series of ‘cities within the
city’ mega-projects.
The economic and social evaluation reflected in figure 5, was caused as a re-
sult of the increase in income level within the country, source being the oil. Since the
beginning of the last three decades of the 20th century, a huge evaluation occurred in
the process of urbanization inside Dubai, which led to the expansion of the urban
land and the construction of advanced buildings (Davidson 2008). The expansion of
shops was done by old urbanism or turning old buildings into a system of advanced

38 Elessawy: THE BOOM: POPULATION AND URBAN GROWTH

constructions, by developing as an apartment in the middle of the city or on the sides

as villas, which were visually pleasing. This plan created infrastructure projects,
which brought about urban growth. Moreover, these infrastructure projects, leading
the economy paved the way to the growth of real estate investments, trade, services,
industry and tourism, thus making it independent on relying in oil and gas.
The total built up area of Dubai city soon increased from 117 square kilome-
ters in 1984 to 147.3 square km in 1990 (Figure 5). This indicated that 30 square
kilometers was added to the city in only five years. The main road of Sheikh Zayed
Road that linked the Eastern areas with the Western areas of the city encouraged the
construction of new areas such as Jebel Ali in the west. New suburbs were added to
the city like Umm Saqeim, Al Sufouh, Alquoz, Umm Alsheif and Al Safa in addition
to the new extension of Al Jumairah and Jebel Ali 2 &3. The total area added at the
western directions was 13.5 square kilometers. Almost 45 % of the total area was
added during 1984 to 1990.
The second large expansion was towards Sharjah city (East, South East, and
North East). Many new areas appeared such as Al Muhaisnah, Al Mizhar, Al Nahda
and Al Awair. About 7.5 square kilometers constituted 25 % of the added built up
area of the city. The new expansion of Dubai city toward south direction was limited
to a new suburb of Nad Alsheba and the appearance of the Emirates Road (Sheikh
Mohamed Bin Zayed now) linking towards the northern Emirates (Abu Dhabi, Du-
bai, Sharjah, Ajman, Om al Quwain and Ras Al Khemah together.
Since the year 2000, Dubai's municipality has initiated a plethora of construc-
tion phases and planned across the entire city of Dubai, predominantly in the Mina
Reyami area, located further from Jumeirah, towards Jebel Ali. In many areas, it is
not easy to see Dubai's sky without at least one crane in your view; meaning 16% of
the world's large construction cranes are residing in Dubai. Constructions in Dubai
and UAE in general have been a fast process compared to any other Western coun-
try. This is partly because laborers from the Indian subcontinent accept lower wages
than those from other countries.
One of the main reasons for the boom in construction in Dubai is its drive to diver-
sify the economy. The Dubai government does not want to depend on its oil re-
serves, which are largely believed to get exhausted by 2010, thus they have diversi-
fied its economy to attract revenues by expanding commercial and corporate activi-
ties. Tourism is also being promoted at a staggering rate with the construction of
Dubai Land and other projects that include the making of mammoth shopping malls,
theme parks, resorts, stadiums and other various tourist attractions. Since the early
first decade of the twenty first century, Dubai started a new era of construction glory
with vast expansion of new cities within Douai city.
The Fourth Stage: The Contemporary growth (Cities within the city’ mega pro-
jects)
Somewhere during the late twentieth century, Dubai became more than itself.
The city was, suddenly, a postmodern urban spectacle rising from the desert pre-
cisely the glittering global consumer utopia imagined by Dubai’s rulers and mer-
chant elite (Ahmed 2011). Dubai’s today is one of the international hubs of services,
commerce and leisure. There are many new built up areas (Suburbs) added to the
city, which increased its area to become 976.6 square km, including:
Business bay: Central business district has numerous skyscrapers located in an
area of Dubai Creek, Business Bay will have upwards of 240 buildings, compris-
ing commercial and residential developments. It covers an area of 2.2 square km.
 HORIZONS IN HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 2 (2) 26-41, 2017 39

Downtown Dubai: It is the home of some of the city's largest landmarks includ-
ing Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall. It covers an area of 2 square km.
Jumeriah Lake towers: it consists of 80 towers being constructed along the edges
of 3 artificial lakes it covers an area of one square Km.
Dubai International Financial Center: A multi-billion-dollar real estate develop-
ment on 45.000 m2 of desert in a financial free zone.
Jumeirah Village: Mixed land uses covering about one square km with landscap-
ing, connected parks and boulevards.
Dubai Marina: Covering 4,5 squares km, it is the largest man made marina in the
world creating a promenade along the entire waterfront.
Festival City: Located along the shores of the creek it comprises of fifteen resi-
dential communities with leisure, entertainment, and shopping facilities.
Palm Islands: The artificial islands of Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali and Palm
Deira each with a mixed-use land development. As the palm tree is a key source
of food and shelter for the people of Dubai, palm shape is selected to be islands’
concept. Each island is surrounded by a crescent land that forms a water-breaker.
The Palm Islands are located off the coast of The United Arab Emirates in the
Arabian Gulf and added 520 kilometers of beaches to the city of Dubai.
Dubai land Theme Park: A mega project, located behind the Emirates Road
stretching from the back of Emirates Hills down almost to The Deira Creek, aim-
ing to become world’s most ambitious leisure, tourism and entertainment destina-
tion.
International City: A residential development comprising 2100 residences
Al Maktoum International Airport area near Jebel Ali, it is planned as the world's
largest passenger and cargo hub. As shown in Figure 5. The total built up area of
Dubai city increased from 396.2 square km in 2003 to 976.6 square km in 2015.
This indicated that a vast area of 580 square km had been added to the city during
the last 12 years
In addition there are many other new areas add to the present built up area of the city
recently such as: Sport city, Silicon Oasis, Jumeriah (Village, Circle, Park, Island,
Golf Estates). Dubai Investment Park and many other projects are still under devel-
opment. One of the reasons integral to the construction boom in Dubai recently is
issuing new legislation that allows non-nationals of the UAE to own property (not
land) in Dubai (albeit freehold and 99 year leases are sold to people with ownership
remaining with private companies). The two largest companies operated by property
tycoons are Al Nakheel and Emaar Properties. In Dubai, demand is currently out-
stripping supply by a significant margin and is showing no signs of slowing soon.
Rents have also skyrocketed with the recent inflow of professionals and companies
from around the world who are attracted by Dubai's no-tax benefits although rises
have been capped to 15% per annum up to 2006 under a directive from Sheikh Mo-
hammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. This cap demonstrates the realization that uncon-
trolled rents can hamper development. Legislation in this area is still sketchy as the
property market is a new one and rights of tenants and landowners are based on
shaky principles borrowed mainly from European law. Most contracts and tenancy
agreements do not stand up to the standards of international law and almost always
grossly favor the lessor or the company selling property.

40 Elessawy: THE BOOM: POPULATION AND URBAN GROWTH

Figure 6. The Urban conurbation of Dubai – Sharjah and Ajman

It is worth noting that the accompanying rise in the cost of living and real estate in
Dubai with the flow of foreign workers, which forced authorities to direct immi-
grants to Sharjah, which is only 7 km further, and Ajman, which is 5 km further of
Sharjah. Most of the labor force that is living in Sharjah and Ajman is working in
Dubai city. With that, major rush-hour traffic problems were observed for travelers
among those cities, even with the large highways and relatively high speed limit of
140 km/hr. This, for instance, lead to an increase in Ajman and Sharjah’s popula-
tions grew significantly. With that, the three cities (Dubai, Sharjah, and Ajman) have
become an urban conurbation extended to more than 80 km along the Arabian Gulf
coast

Conclusion
According to the domestic and international statistic at present the Dubai
population growth as well as population growth in other Emirates of UAE is one of
the fastest rates all over the world and the country is one of the international leaders
in the rate of the population growth. The total population increased from less than
200 thousand in the first census of 1975, to more than 2.3 million persons according
to the estimation of 2015 population. Dubai annual population growth rate and the
growth of the population of the UAE as a whole in recent years are on average of 5
.9 % to 8%, which is one of the highest rates in the world. The population growth is
mainly achieved through the foreigners coming to the country to live and work from
countries all over the world. There are many consequences, which followed that
rapid growth as the huge urban sprawl of the city from only 54 sq. kilometers in
1975 to nearly 1000 sq. kilometers in 2015. The urban sprawl of the city covered
most directions to change desert into developed urban land use. The city extension is
clearly eastward, where the built up area of Dubai extended to include Sharjah and
Ajman cities. This constituted a conurbation (Metropolitan) extended to more than
50 kilometers along the southern coast of Arabian Gulf. Dubai has undergone sig-
nificant urban changes and great population growth over the past decades, which
 HORIZONS IN HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 2 (2) 26-41, 2017 41

transformed it from a small desert trading centre to a global business hub and eco-
nomic centre.

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