Urban sprawl in the UAE.

The UAE has a special landscape that is composed mainly of desert land , hills ,plains , mountains and few valleys. It also overlooks huge areas of water. The landscape of the UAE has changed remarkably since the discovery of oil and the rapid development in all aspects of life. The economic development led to the construction of more modern buildings and high skyscrapers. The main emirates began to extend their urban sprawl and more new cities have been added. The Urban Sprawl nowadays is quite different from that of the past. Moreover , in the future urban sprawl is expected to be quite different. Urban sprawl in the UAE witnessed remarkable change from past to the present and it will also change in the future.

All over the world, the 20th century was called the era of urbanization. Due to the sharp rise in the population , the urban sprawl began to be affected. The UAE has always witnessed urban sprawl in the past. In the UAE , “The number of population in the UAE rose sharply from 1.04 million to 4.041 million during the period from 1980 to 2003” ( World Architecture
COMMUNITY, 2011). All the cities of the Gulf have been expanding at an unexpected speed.

At present , The United Arab Emirates is marked by the extraordinary changes brought about by urbanization. More than 80 % of the populations in the UAE dwell in towns.  The rate of urbanization is one of the highest in the world compared with other developing countries. All the towns in the UAE witnessed Urban explosions , not only the major cities like Dubai , Abu Dhabi or Sharjah , but also  the medium-sized towns such as Ajman , Ras Al Khaima and Fujairah witnessed rapid development in the process of urbanization. Nowadays, Dubai has expanded urban sprawl horizontally by constructing cities like Palm Island and vertically by constructing towering skyscrapers.

In the future , the UAE will witness more urban sprawl because it has been establishing a lot of new cities on the outskirts of the existing cities. As the population of the UAE rises , the number of cities will go on. Moreover , the economic boost that the UAE witnesses will contribute positively to the development of more new cities. The use of technology and the plentiful resources in the UAE will also accelerate the Urban sprawl.

 Finally , there are several factors that lead to the Urban sprawl in the UAE. One of these factors is the sharp rise of the population in the UAE. Another factor is the global socio-economic forces which make the spatial and environmental constraints interact in order to generate the Urban sprawl that is nowadays common in the UAE. Moreover , the construction of the new roads that linked the cities together accelerated urban sprawl. These roads have provided the UAE people with great advantages as people who preferred living far away from cities could easily get access to cities using this network of roads. Other factors that affected the Urban sprawl are the means of transport , the choice of the place of residence , the cost of land , how attractive the urban locations are.

References:

http://www.worldarchitecture.org/all-countries/comment.asp?comments=no&up=5589 ( past )

Katodrytis, G. (n.d.). George Katodrytis: Metropolitan Dubai and the Rise of Architectural Fantasy | RUT Radical Urban Theory. Radical Urban Theory // writings on the modern urban condition. Retrieved April 16, 2012, from http://www.radicalurbantheory.com/misc/dubai.html (present)

   Plan Abu Dhabi 2030  : Abu Dhabi Metro. (n.d.).  Abu Dhabi Metro. Retrieved April 16, 2012, from  http://abu-dhabi-metro.com/abu-dhabi/plan-abu-dhabi-2030

 ( future)