{"id":26227,"date":"2017-12-15T10:54:58","date_gmt":"2017-12-15T15:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/?p=26227"},"modified":"2017-12-15T11:01:10","modified_gmt":"2017-12-15T16:01:10","slug":"dubai-arid-lands-innovator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/2017\/12\/15\/dubai-arid-lands-innovator\/","title":{"rendered":"Dubai \u2013 Arid Lands Innovator"},"content":{"rendered":"
To endure in the coming century, cities like Dubai will have to lead the world in innovation for sustainability.<\/blockquote><\/figure>\n

We step off the plane at Dubai International Airport\u2014the third busiest in the world\u2014and the surroundings are familiar: faux granite, glass, stainless steel, arrival\/departure screens, duty-free shops, food courts, escalators, the usual. Maybe a bit grander than most, but familiar. We move through customs, hit the duty-free for a few bottles of wine (we\u2019ll want them; it takes about a month to get your alcohol-buying license).<\/p>\n

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Figure 1. Dubai skyline from the Metro train, looking west. Photo: Peter K. Schoonmaker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then we step outside with our host, and it hits us. Slams us, really. It\u2019s 7 pm and 45 degrees C (113 degrees F). The concrete is still releasing heat. It\u2019s so ridiculously hot; we laugh because we\u2019ve been told that it will be ridiculously hot. We didn\u2019t believe it. We\u2019ve lived in hot, dry places. We\u2019ve been through the Mohave, Phoenix, the Great Basin. This is different. We were warned.<\/p>\n

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Figure 2. Outdoors in the UAE, it\u2019s all about the shade. Courtyard of the NYU Abu Dhabi campus looking to the city. Photo: Peter K. Schoonmaker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We\u2019ve heard stories of people coming to live in Dubai fleeing after a few months, or even weeks, as the heat was just too much. Literally leaving all their belongings, driving to the airport, abandoning their car, and getting on a plane. Every place has its apocryphal stories.We push our luggage to our host\u2019s SUV, load up, and notice a late model white Lexus parked next to us. It\u2019s coated with several months of fine ochre desert powder\u2014abandoned. Someone has finger-scrawled on the windshield a single word: \u201cCoward!\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve arrived in Dubai during the hottest month of the year, the middle of August. My wife has taken a job here. I\u2019m along for the ride. I want to learn as much about this place as I can in a few weeks. I\u2019ve heard a lot about Dubai: Instant city. Growing skyscrapers like weeds (I count hundreds of active construction cranes). A stunning skyline. Las Vegas of the Middle East. Winter playground. Huge per capita ecological footprint. And also, few natural resources\u2014little energy, water or arable land. What\u2019s going on here?<\/p>\n

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Figure 3. Construction and construction cranes are ubiquitous in the United Arab Emirates. Photo: Peter K. Schoonmaker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The contrasts between this desert kingdom\/metropolis and my squeaky green hometown of Portland, Oregon, are stark. Hot versus cool. Dry versus wet. Car-focused versus bike-dominant. Fast paced versus laid back. Dishdasha versus flannel. A recent commitment to sustainability versus a half-century of green planning. And some similarities: an excellent food scene, five months of perfect outdoor weather, and tourists flocking to shop and play (Dubai) versus chill and play (Portland).In the next few weeks, I\u2019ll visit the Dubai Design District<\/a>, the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve<\/a>, the Emirates Wildlife Society<\/a>, NYU Abu Dhabi<\/a>, and the Masdar Institute for Sustainability<\/a>. I\u2019ll talk with new acquaintances, and visit a dozen malls (Dubai has 71), souks, and warehouses to help furnish our apartment and learn my way around. What follows are first impressions of a fascinating place. First impressions are important (people and cities alike strive for good ones), sometimes insightful (our eyes are often open widest in novel environments), but also incomplete (we often don\u2019t know to look for). <\/em><\/p>\n

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Figure 4. Dubai is a mall culture, especially during the hot summers, attracting millions of international visitors to its 71 malls. Photo: Peter K. Schoonmaker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019m coming in with assumptions. Dubai and its oil-rich neighbor, Abu Dhabi are growing at breakneck speed, in one of the hottest, driest environments on earth. How will Dubai\u2019s 2.8 million residents endure in the long run with virtually no natural water or energy resources, and six months of daily high temperatures exceeding 38 degrees C (100 F)? Dubai\u2019s only significant food crop is dates. Despite ambitious public transportation plans, the city is designed for automobiles (as was Portland, ca. 1960), with urban development spread across the desert in patches. The combination of high temperatures and urban patches makes the city un-walkable. Contrast this scene with contemporary Portland: planned growth, ample water, fertile soils, hydropower, bike-able and walkable.<\/p>\n

Everyone says you need a car in Dubai. It\u2019s true. For now. Modern Dubai rose from a modest regional port of 40,000 in 1960, centered on Dubai Creek (a lagoon, not a creek), to a sprawling metropolis of 2.8 million today. Unless you live in one of the high rises near the Dubai Metro<\/a> rail, which runs a mile back and parallel to the coast, you\u2019ll be driving. Even if you live along the Metro, you\u2019ll probably be driving. Public transportation is present, even ample, but waiting for a bus in 45-degree C heat makes an air-conditioned car an attractive option. If you live in one of the dozens of developments southeast of the main strip, you\u2019ll definitely be driving.<\/p>\n

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Figure 5. Dubai has just recently begun to name roads and assign addresses. Many Emiratis navigate by landmark rather than address. Photo: Peter K. Schoonmaker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here\u2019s the reason. Dubai\u2019s basic transportation infrastructure\u2014massive freeways, complex cloverleafs, self-contained subdivisions, malls clustered toward the coast\u2014was designed for the automobile. I\u2019m told that Dubai\u2019s leadership is moving to re-engineer transportation systems. But roads are the skeleton of any city. This will take a while. (On the other hand, things happen quickly here: just mix concrete, steel, asphalt, and money, and voila!)<\/p>\n

In the meantime, there\u2019s one feature of Dubai\u2019s road system that really stands out to a new driver: U-turns. Whoever designed the road system had an affinity for U-turns. They\u2019re everywhere. You often have to drive a mile or more past your destination, and then U-turn back to your target. I want to know how this pattern emerged.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s another wayfinding challenge: Emiratis don\u2019t use addresses to navigate; they use landmarks. If you give your native Emirati Uber diver an address, they may get lost. But if you say, \u201cgo inland, just past the race track, and then turn right at the Spinney\u2019s Market\u201d\u2014they\u2019ll know exactly where to go.<\/p>\n

One thing long-term residents tell me repeatedly is, \u201cWhen I got here, there was nothing west of Old Dubai. We used to drive 15 miles west through the desert to hit the Hard Rock Caf\u00e9.\u201d The 25 kilometers of skyscrapers along the coast that give Dubai its iconic skyline\u2014that was desert 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

Dubai\u2019s unique development, wayfinding, and U-turn dependency trip me up the moment I pull away in my rental car on the west end of the city\u2014and lead to an arresting sight. The city ends abruptly in a confusing nest of freeway cloverleaf interchanges\u2014some still under construction\u2014spilling me out onto the road to Abu Dhabi, and to my right, along the coast, the biggest power plant I\u2019ve ever seen. I later learn that the DEWA Jebel Ali<\/a> a 10-gigawatt natural gas plant powers most of the city and desalinates the equivalent of 200 Olympic pools of water per day. Dubai makes no small plans. Since I missed my U-turn, I\u2019ll be driving past several exits for the largest deep-water port in the Middle East, until I can back-track.<\/p>\n

OK so \u201cdriving Dubai\u201d is a new experience, kind of like driving Los Angeles if all the freeways had been built since O.J. Simpson\u2019s famous hejira. Time to try public transportation.<\/p>\n

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Figure 6. View from Dubai\u2019s Metro looking west. Photo: Peter K. Schoonmaker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I leave my car at Emirates Mall in \u201cmid-town\u201d Dubai, which is connected to the elevated Dubai Metro<\/a> train. It\u2019s efficient and fast and offers commanding views of the linear strip of coast and high rises, suburbs in the middle distance, and finally, desert fading into the morning haze. Twenty minutes later I\u2019m walking along Dubai Creek (lagoon), visiting the historic district, wandering through the textile souk, and stopping at the historic home of Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum<\/a>, ruler of Dubai from 1912 until his death in 1958. The home\u2019s courtyard is quiet, modest, and offers cool shade against the morning heat. Traditional Ecological Knowledge is at work here. It feels familiar\u2014the courtyard plan, the shade, the small exterior windows, the cooling wind towers\u2014this Arabic architecture traveled to Spain with the Moors over a thousand years ago giving rise to the haciendas in the arid western Americas.<\/p>\n

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Figure 7. The restored home of Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum (1889 \u2013 1958), a cool quite respite on a hot morning in historic Old Dubai. Photo: Peter K. Schoonmaker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Figure 8. Dubai Creek divides Old Dubai (right) from Deira (left). Photo: Peter K. Schoonmaker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So this is \u201cOld Dubai\u201d and Deira (on the east side of the lagoon) a modest historic pearling and gold trading port. It\u2019s easy to envision the city 50 years ago: this, and then desert. You can tell where the edge of town was from the jumbo jets just clearing buildings 4 km away. Dubai\/Deira rapidly enveloped the airport, built on the edge of town in 1960. Now the edge of town is 20 km past the airport.<\/p>\n

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Figure 9. Falconry mews 60 km south of Dubai. Photo: Peter K. Schoonmaker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ll drive another the 40 km past that to reach the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve. On the way, I pass an abandoned camel racing track now surrounded by suburbs, and later on, the new Dubai Camel Racing Club<\/a>. It looks like any high-end luxury horse club, just different animals. I also pass a 5-km line of slow-moving trucks waiting to exit near a large escarpment. I\u2019m puzzled. I thought the Al Hajar Mountains were further to the east. I drive on, turn off on a dirt road toward the research center, and run into an unsupervised herd of camels. They nose up to my car to see what\u2019s up before moving on. Passing date palm plantations and other farming operations, I notice in the distance the largest shade-cloth tents I\u2019ve ever seen: 75 meters high, maybe a hectare in area. What\u2019s growing under those? I soon find out when I arrive at the Conservation Center: nothing.<\/p>\n

These huge circular tents recently held hundreds of falcons, until Dubai\u2019s head falconer convinced the emirate\u2019s leadership, avid falconers, that Scotland would make a better mews. Peregrine and gyre falcons and their hybrids like it a bit cooler (ok, a lot cooler). The 25,500 ha Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve<\/a> originated as an ecotourism site for Emirates Airlines\u2019 Al Maha luxury resort. The initial focus was on larger charismatic wildlife, like the Arabian oryx (Al Maha), but more systemic research and conservation now includes the full biodiversity of the region. As with most arid land, much of the wildlife gathers around water. Oddly, there is abundant water here\u2014some it only three meters below the surface, suitable only for agriculture, and non-renewable. A recent study has estimated that UAE\u2019s groundwater may be depleted by 2030.<\/p>\n

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Figure 10. Trucks lining up to exit Al Ain Roads and climb the Dubai landfill. Photo: Peter K. Schoonmaker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On my way back into the city I take a closer look at that long line of trucks. They\u2019re all turning off near the escarpment that\u2019s in the hazy distance, and all are climbing up a set of switchbacks on this 200-meter-high feature. Then it dawns on me. This is no escarpment; it is the approach to Dubai\u2019s municipal landfill. As with the natural gas-fired electric\/desalination plant, it\u2019s massive. It\u2019s the largest landfill, with the longest line of trucks I\u2019ve ever seen (Dubai plans to shift 75 percent of its waste stream away from landfills). So now I\u2019ve witnessed some of the core input and output sites through which Dubai\u2019s energy and materials flow: a world-class airport, huge deepwater port, massive energy plant, a geologic-scale landfill. More opaque for a first-time visitor are the social and financial systems that drive it all.<\/p>\n

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Figure 10. Trucks lining up to exit Al Ain Roads and climb the Dubai landfill. Photo: Peter K. Schoonmaker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And the products of these flows? Well, clearly the built environment\u2014the 25-km strip of skyscrapers, the dozens of new and recent developments scattered into the desert, requiring thousands of building cranes, and connecting freeways (and U-turns). And Dubai\u2019s attractions\u201471 malls, golf courses, theme parks (e.g., Ski Dubai!).<\/p>\n

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Figure 12. Drip irrigation is standard procedure. Sprinklers are seldom seen. Photo: Peter K. Schoonmaker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Underlying these attractions: green habitat. That is, conspicuous displays of public water opulence\u2014artificial lakes, wetlands, fountains, vegetation. But if you look closely, drip irrigation is the standard technology, and desert-adapted species are standard\u2014neem, acacia, native succulents, etc.<\/p>\n

Dubai is essentially an artificial oasis. If you\u2019re looking for wildlife, this is a good thing. The birding is excellent in Dubai\u2019s parks, even in the hot off-season. During the fall and spring migrations, the watering and greening of the UAE desert coast vastly expand habitat for migrating birds. I\u2019m looking forward to returning later for the fall migration.<\/p>\n

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Figure 13. Dubai Design District, shady and active. Photo: Peter K. Schoonmaker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All these visible stocks and flows of energy and materials supporting this oasis are emergent properties of perhaps a more important characteristic of Dubai: This is a trading city, a crossroads where new ideas and practices are being interwoven into a traditional culture. For the past few decades, those practices have manifested as energy, water, and infrastructure development. Now Dubai and its neighbors appear to be pouring serious money and effort into innovation for sustainability. The city\u2019s building code for sustainability was drafted by one of Portland\u2019s leading green architects in collaboration with Dubai\u2019s urban planning agency.<\/p>\n

The Dubai Design District has opened as an innovation hub, and its Institute for Design and Innovation<\/a>, opening in fall 2018, will enroll 400 young designers when it is fully up and running. Further west in Abu Dhabi, the Masdar Institute for Sustainability<\/a> has brought in a global faculty to design and prototype sustainable energy, water, and built-environment systems. The Masdar campus is itself a test case for high efficiency, low energy building. The exterior environment is designed to take advantage of shade and cooling winds, much like Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum\u2019s residence (and many others) in Old Dubai. It\u2019s a synthesis of TEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge) and tech.<\/p>\n

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Figure14. Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. Note the shade, vegetation, solar and water facilities. Photo: Peter K. Schoonmaker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Energy may be the easiest fix for Dubai. Solar arrays are everywhere. And massive solar farms<\/a> are taking shape along the city\u2019s outskirts. Water will be tougher. There simply isn\u2019t any significant regional water resource. Thus, (desalinated) water availability will be energy-driven, first by natural gas, but soon enough by renewables, as gas peaks and declines. Food resources are limited as well. And even with desalinated water, massive food imports will continue. But in some ways, that\u2019s the case for many cities. Los Angeles gets its water at great energy cost. And all cities, including wet, green Portland, have continental scale \u201cfood-sheds\u201d. All cities are natural resource sinks by nature. Dubai, for now, is just more so.<\/p>\n

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Figure 15. Islamic Cultural Center and Mosque, Old Dubai. Photo: Peter K. Schoonmaker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So here\u2019s an observation, a hypothesis, and a proposition: There are no \u201csustainable\u201d cities (yet); the future of any particular city depends as much on ideas and innovation as on natural resources (unless your entire city lies at or below sea level); if this is true, global crossroads like Dubai may fare as well or better than current \u201cgreener\u201d outposts like Portland.<\/p>\n

Regardless of how it goes for Dubai and its UAE neighbors, the city\u2019s ambitions may lead to potential paybacks for the rest of us. Dubai has the resources and the intention to pioneer innovative solutions for urban sustainability in arid environments. With much of the world\u2019s population living in hot, dry climates, and with those climates getting hotter and drier, Dubai may end up being a leading sustainability adopter. The most valuable \u2018product\u2019 of Dubai may not be shopping or winter recreation or lifestyle\u2014it may very likely be innovation for sustainability. I\u2019m headed back to learn more.<\/p>\n

Peter K. Schoonmaker<\/strong>
\nPortland<\/p>\n

On The Nature of Cities<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We step off the plane at Dubai International Airport\u2014the third busiest in the world\u2014and the surroundings are familiar: faux granite, glass, stainless steel, arrival\/departure screens, duty-free shops, food courts, escalators, the usual. Maybe a bit grander than most, but familiar. We move through customs, hit the duty-free for a few bottles of wine (we\u2019ll want […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":675,"featured_media":26222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[273,299],"tags":[47,601,28,92,91,190,557,84,250,90,41,404,62],"coauthors":[912],"class_list":["post-26227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","category-essay-place-and-design","tag-asia","tag-culture","tag-design","tag-development","tag-economics","tag-energy","tag-landscape","tag-livability","tag-middle-east","tag-sustainability","tag-tools","tag-value","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/675"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26227"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=26227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}