Just trying to get some more chats going here
so asking the question Can Dubai, UAE keep up the pace?
Know well all know from weekends in London that what goes up must come down. Nothing can move from slow pace up bullet agate and maintain that. There has to a drop off somewhere in time. Dubai may have the investment the interest and the position to fuel its insane growth right now but then what. What sort of problems does this growth bring? What long-term culture will it breed? Does the control exist to avoid all the problems and pit falls that will come up?

Thats like asking, is George Bush an idiot?

No, they will eventually slow down

What will this do to traffic? From what I hear it's pretty bad sometimes during rush hour. I did see the plans for an above ground (elevated) Metro system. What about new highways?
Also, futuristic modes of transportation like the Segway maybe? http://www.segway.com
It may be expensive and in its infancy today but by 2010 I'm sure we'll see all types of personal transporters abound.

Sam

2010 is so late. Traffic here is so so bad at least thats what I think I cant stand it already. But then I ahte to communte. But with all these res projects coming up trasnport and roads need a lot more work than they are been giving my fear is the avaible space for road and rail projects will be eat up

Good questions trances. Why dont you ask someone from uae what they think about this growth, espically the cultural aspect, and see what they have to say. From my experience you won't like what you hear. I think, remeber my point of view,is just think of these projects in economical terms. I seriously think all this will have an adverse effect on the local population of dubai. Duabi seems to have uncontrolled growth which is very bad. Qatar is trying to follow these foot steps and I honestly dreed the day that qatar will become like dubai culturally. Offcourse i dont need to remind my emiritie friends that i dont mean no offence at all, this is just my point of view.

I am some what aware of the path that dubai has taken I fear what the effects of this culture washing machine will thrown dubai on the final hand. Long Term effects on the popluation ? Such a small % now is there concern about the culture idenity of the nation ?
Oh Qatar I am going to Doha for the weekend just to renew my visa but wil still be there for few hours shame I can go walk around the city

Speaking of growth and traffic, here's a page showing a shot from each of the traffic cams in Dubai:

http://afifi.com/dubai/dubaicam.html

Sam

how come u cant??

u cant what ?

how come u cant come down into doha

casue it cost money to get visa and leave the airport does it not ?
Sorry sorta got of topic here way off
But yes I hear heapsof Doha and thing going on there hearding down the same road a Dubai but then I dont ahve time to soak and order it all up in my mind right now

This is my honest opinion

I for one will never change into trousers and shirts on a daily basis , 99% of the time i wear the traditional kandora , but i do wear the occasional western clothing if i`m going to the beach or walk around malls in Dubai : sometimes but not always , i dont feel less of an emaratii , and i dont think i`m losing anything cultural wise

But i`m sorry to say that there are alot of guys i know of that LOVE anything western , they cant get enough of it and dont give a rats ass about traditions and limitations , so yes it is worrying me alot

But what worries me more is High crime rates and stuff like that , Dubai and the UAE cant be the safest country/city for ever , this will change when the POP increases

Now these are just random thought on the subject and am still new here and the like.

Crime seems to be to be very low in Dubai. Sure there are many reasons. Well one good thing for now in UAE is the strong control over labor, drugs and public sales of wine beer etc. Unemployment is low is not as you cant remain with valid work Unless on tourist visa but still. And there is also the fear for many of harsh punishment and deportation that goes with almost any crime ( to a degree) Strict control over the masses to some degree keeps order. But these large family and growth of the younger generation is rapidly growing and these people need control and direction.

Major problem is not westernization but the complete commercialization franchise pre package uniform comformality package that is being copied, developed and spread about the world like self replicating code. Until every thing is bland poor carbon copy of what came before it. As for the west it more over a victim of this than the rest of the world that imposes this view of self conduct on.

And people every way take on way they see believing that is vast improvement on what came before. Some where in the past a critical error was made. In both the true cost of this method of delivering a “high” quality of life the long term gains of this. Dubai seems rather than to oppose this, It wants maintain control and embrace this. Some thing that it will ultimately fail at

Could rant but have work to do today

There was a discussion on SSP that spoke about the Emirati opinion in a thread entitled: "Dubai: City Made for Expats and Tourists".

As a citizen of Dubai, I am not a supporter of the overabundance of entertainment and superlative projects that are going on in the city. The idea that some neighbouring countries and emirates are starting to do the same sort of projects makes it even worse. There will be market saturation.

They're only taking up precious land, and for myself as an Emirati, it means a whole new way of life in the future (near future I might add) and a different life for the future generations. We might have to live in apartments rather than houses, and prices for land will go way up. It is possible that we would have to do the same as India and buy a plot of land for our own graves.

The amount of investment in proper education whether for schools or colleges is nothing compared to what is done for entertainment. There is almost zero investment in research, except for horse and camel breeding centres. The city is also not showing any sign of "opening up" to be considered as a proper developed country. The government still doesn't allow any disclosure of statistics on number of AIDS patients in the country, which really shows how much ignorance there still is, and the kinds of backward thoughts still circulating in higher areas.

I once asked a local engineer what he thought of this construction boom, and he said he thinks Dubai will be a great gift for humanity. Because in the future, people will be able to look at Dubai and learn a lesson from what went wrong, and how they can prevent a similar mistake.

On behalf of the majority of UAE nationals, I say: "We are disgusted and sorrowed by this arrogant display of extravagance that will affect the lives of many tomorrow".

I once asked a local engineer what he thought of this construction boom, and he said he thinks Dubai will be a great gift for humanity. Because in the future, people will be able to look at Dubai and learn a lesson from what went wrong, and how they can prevent a similar mistake.
Ok thats one scary thing

Alright! I get the point, BUT what is happening soo wrong that dubai might be destroyed someday, sure the pace construction thats happening might get slower but buildings wonts start falling and island wont start sinking, that it would leave a lesson and example for the world not to make the same mistake and i dont even see a big mistake. Sure dubai might have a little fall, but it will get up again and start walking, perhaps if not running like now.

The thing i see in the future is a REBELLION! which could leave the city crumbling

Alright! I get the point, BUT what is happening soo wrong that dubai might be destroyed someday, sure the pace construction thats happening might get slower but buildings wonts start falling and island wont start sinking, that it would leave a lesson and example for the world not to make the same mistake and i dont even see a big mistake. Sure dubai might have a little fall, but it will get up again and start walking, perhaps if not running like now.

The thing i see in the future is a REBELLION! which could leave the city crumbling

I didn't say buildings will start falling. I mean that they could very easily run into financial problems since they are focusing so much on one sector only. Sure we need to diversify the economy and look for other sources of income apart from oil, but what they are doing is transforming the tourism sector into our new oil. What about other sectors?

And political instability is also a very major cause of concern. Dubai can not remain peaceful forever. Especially not with a monarchy that enjoys entertainment more than anything else, and the existence of "Islamists" who could be very well apalled by the availability of nightclubs and whatever not in the city. It is only a matter of time before one minor threat ruins the entire tourism industry. And then how will we make up for it if we are solely dependent on one sector?

So True Girl!!
i Just hope the thing that happened in saudi arabia does'nt happens here
They are also developing other sectors, just not as much as the tourism
tourism is a sector that actually help develop other sectors and improve economy
but i believe tourism should be the side income, not the main income just like other major cities of the world

The problem with me is , i see everything on a very optomistic level . I hate thinking of the downside of these projects going up in Dubai

Billions are being pumped into the tourisim sector , hopefully when Dubai gets its healthcare city up and running we will have another sector "major sector" to depend on

i read all your veiws dozer girl and i agree with most of it , but i still think there is a very bright future for Dubai :)

I drove out to desert on Friday, was stressed bored and the like and needed to get out the city so much. Was great to only be 5 mins form the city. Drove out the road to Al Ain. And thats what I though looked the best. the emply plains with just the road was one of the best things I have seen in the last few months. Hope that it stays the same for a long time.

Yeah its real beautiful how al ain has all that red sand , its romantic in one way or another !! :\