THE VIEW NORTH, NEAR BURJ DUBAI | Photograph by Lauren Greenfield
Deserts have a way of reclaiming whatever is built upon them. In the case of Dubai, on the Persian Gulf, the global financial implosion has sent that process into overdrive. After six years of frenzied expansion, during which the emirate's population grew at 7% annually and nearly $600 billion went into construction (the world's tallest building! the world's largest shopping mall! the biggest man-made island! an indoor ski resort!), reality has come rushing into view.
"They have no oil, no culture, no history," says Peter Harradine, a prominent landscape architect in Dubai and manager of Harradine Golf. "So what they have been able to produce is a miracle." Or was it a mirage? Today, an estimated 50% of the slated developments are frozen or canceled. Banks have stopped lending. Housing prices fell 41% in the first quarter of 2009 and are expected to drop to preboom levels. The stock market has plunged 70% from its peak. And people across the socioeconomic spectrum are being laid off -- and fleeing -- in droves. But even fleeing is harder than it sounds: When foreigners, who once made up perhaps 80% of Dubai's 1.7 million residents, lose their jobs, their work visas are rescinded and they generally have 30 days to pay their debts and leave. Those who fail to pay risk debtor's prison. And debt here is now as deep and ubiquitous as the sand itself.
The wealthy, like the Emiratis, remain well cared for. Designer Roberto Cavalli, asked why he spent $30 million on his new Cavalli Club during a financial crisis, replied, "What financial crisis?" These pages may remind him.
Dubai's expansion was as ambitious as it was improbable. Dubailand, a $64 billion mixed-use development initially planned at 107 square miles, was to be the world's largest collection of theme parks, shops, residences, and hotels. For now, though, its roller coasters, life-size dinosaurs, snowy mountainscape, and polar bears will remain a fantasy, one of the gaudier casualties of the economic downturn. While formal cancellations are rare in Dubai, a number of other projects have been delayed or scuttled, including an underwater hotel; a Tiger Woods golf course; a residential community set among full-scale replicas of the Seven Wonders of the World; a rotating skyscraper; and a beach designed by Versace, complete with chilled sand.
PLASTIK BEACH CLUB, 30 MILES OUTSIDE OF DUBAI
With requisite hookah and a jeroboam of Champagne, a group of German businessmen celebrate their purchase of an Alaskan oil field at Plastik Beach Club, a playground touting itself as "exclusively for the filthy rich and aesthetically perfect." Public intoxication and displays of affection are jailable offenses in Dubai, but private clubs are quietly ignored by the authorities, often rendering them happy havens of vice. Plastik offers a helipad and a dock for its wealthy guests, many of them Russian; as the economy crumbles, they party on. One American expat says that while Dubai's promise has faded in the economic downturn, "people who dream of a better life dream of coming to Dubai. You can call it the American dream."
THE VIEW NORTH, NEAR BURJ DUBAI
Dubai was a modest trading settlement until the 1980s. Fueled by cheap credit, tax-free living, and limitless ambition, the city-state pushed into the desert and up to the sky, culminating in the frenetic growth of the past six years. Now, with cash scarce and many of Dubai's expats moving away, the cranes (a quarter of the world's supply) have quieted and the streets are all but empty. A resident from Ireland reflects that living in Dubai during the rush was "like being on a drug. Every six months, the city would morph into something completely new." Kayla, a South African, recalls, "Everyone was talking about how it couldn't go on like this. Then, all of a sudden, everything changed."
SONAPUR LABOR CAMP, OUTSIDE OF DUBAI
Once Dubai's most valuable import, foreign laborers have become a liability to their former employers. Hundreds of thousands of them, mostly from South Asia, were drawn by the promise of plentiful work and money to send home to their families. Now that much of Dubai's construction has ground to a halt, many are being sent home; the number of migrant workers here has reportedly fallen by a third. Of those who remain, many are locked in labor disputes: They can't work, but can't leave. These jobless Bangladeshi men can't return home because, as frequently happens, their employers confiscated their visas, effectively leaving them shackled. Living four to a room in a labor camp, they haven't been paid in seven months. They say they live as "ghosts" in a "prison," unacknowledged and unknown.
DUBAI OUTSKIRTS
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Recent Comments | 29 Total
August 13, 2009 at 1:45am by Madhukar Tanna
Your views on Dubai is one sided views by someone who is completely disconnected with the reality. Much more devastation has happened in america and it is protrayed as normal recession. Speaking of Dubai, Yes, real estate priced have come down from astronomical prices, yes, people have gone back A) because their contract is over and their talent is not required or B) their performance was very poor and have been asked to go by the company and C) Demand fluctuations in job market. Nothing big about it.
Today thousands of Dubai resident are living in their own home, bringing up family, having good life and out of several million cars on the road, few thousands car have been left at the airport. Out of total population of 5million, few hundered thousands will go and come back. That will not change the prominent position of Dubai as numero uno for doing business in Middle East, bringing up family, enjoying beautiful sea and natural surrounding and having cousine from around the world.
Before writing such an article you should have collected the facts. You have tarnished the credibility of FC
Come on 9/9/9 and enjoy the free ride on worlds most advanced rail system and have coffee with me on Burj Dubai, the tallest burj in the world
August 14, 2009 at 9:37am by Sash Savic
Very interesting analysis. The higher you build, the harder you fall.
August 14, 2009 at 11:06am by
Indeed, the tone of the article is strongly one sided. In these market conditions, it is obvious that demand drops and many investments are frozen. What else should they do?
London, New York, Moscow and other important markets have been significantly hit. This does not mean it's the end of it all.
As soon as the market conditions will look different, Dubai will be on the frontline again with its potential, visionary approach and unique assets. The article does not mention that BEFORE jobs and opportunities in Dubai were exceeding the demand, that's why the fallout seems so sensational.
Finally, I really did not enjoyed this article. Defintely, I'll reconsider my subscription to FC.
Best Regards from Dubai.
August 14, 2009 at 11:11am by
Indeed, the tone of the article is one sided. There's still several openings for this year in Dubai. As the global economy plunges in the worst recession since WWII, Dubai has frozen a number of projects until market conditions are more appropriate. What's wrong with this?
Before the recession, jobs and opportunities in Dubai simply exceeded the supply. That's why nowadays things look so grim. In London, New York, Moscow, Paris and other major markets the situation is similar or worst. So, what's all this drama about Dubai only?
Finally, I did not appreciate the tone and neutrality of the article. Defintely, I wil reconsider my subscription to FC.
Best Regards from Dubai
August 14, 2009 at 11:14am by
Indeed, the tone of the article is one sided. There's still several openings for this year in Dubai. As the global economy plunges in the worst recession since WWII, Dubai has frozen a number of projects until market conditions are more appropriate. What's wrong with this?
Before the recession, jobs and opportunities in Dubai simply exceeded the supply. That's why nowadays things look so grim. In London, New York, Moscow, Paris and other major markets the situation is similar or worst. So, what's all this drama about Dubai only?
Finally, I did not appreciate the tone and neutrality of the article. Defintely, I wil reconsider my subscription to FC.
Best Regards from Dubai
August 14, 2009 at 11:17am by EMILY SUSSMAN
Ms. Greenfield-
This is a wonderful new dimension to your work. I've been a big fan of your photography since I discovered it six or so years ago... Anyway, this is fabulous.
EWS
August 14, 2009 at 11:18am by EMILY SUSSMAN
Ms. Greenfield-
This is a wonderful new dimension to your work. I've been a big fan of your photography since I discovered it six or so years ago... Anyway, this is fabulous.
EWS
August 14, 2009 at 12:19pm by Jose Meza
Good pictures but completely sensationalist article.
August 14, 2009 at 1:56pm by Tom Pattillo
Wow. Three years in the UAE, a frequent visitor to Dubai, and I do not recognize the pictures or the story. FC - you and Ms Greenfield have done a huge injustice to both Dubai and factual, objective, and civilized reporting. Each point has factual errors. Each picture portrays a Dubai I have never seen. I don't know your viewing location for the city . . . the photographs were certainly neither current or in any way representative of the actual skyline.
The comments from ex-pats forced to leave are the most spurious method of proving a point. One person is rarely representative of actual reality. It is poor, but sensationalistic, reporting . . . something very disappointing to me, a long time fan of FC.
One dead tree on a street with dozens of healthy trees . . . what??? A dusty Chrysler Crossfire . . . I have never seen a Crossfire in Dubai - and anywhere in the UAE. As for dust . . . everything is dusty - it is a desert country!
The road used by the sewage trucks . . . I travel that everyday. 17 hours in one of the trucks, on a really bad day, and slowed by an accident . . . maybe (nah . . . never). Regular traffic goes quite well.
With the new ring road around Dubai and Sharjah, the continuing improvements in the Dubai highway system and the new transit system . . . getting around Dubai is becoming very reasonable for a large and growing city, regardless of the current economic situation.
You mention worker living conditions, I agree, not good. Better in many cases than the workers have at home (not a good excuse). However, having talked with and worked with the workers I know they send upwards of 80% of their monthly earnings home . . . and choose to live in very modest accommodations to maximize the money they send home. And four to a room . . . ever planted trees in Canada for the summer?
I work with, manage and teach Emirati Nationals every day. The young people are in an interesting position and are learning to live in a country totally foreign to their grandparents and a work in process for their parents.
These are good kids, struggling to find themselves, and be a part of a successful UAE future. Off the cuff comments about the rich and the Emiratis is such a cliché.
So, to be negative is easy. Takes very little intelligence and fewer morals. I do hate to respond to an article like this because doing so, in some situations, lends a false sense of credibility to the author and the article. However, sometimes I just have stick my neck out and respond.
The contents of this article demonstrate the very worst journalist methods. Maybe it will boost your circulation, but quantity is rarely better than quality.
August 14, 2009 at 3:11pm by Del Patel
Incredibly poor article. An absolute disgrace. How can you even call yourself a journalist??? Take a look at the USA first before dismissing other parts of the world
August 14, 2009 at 3:11pm by Del Patel
Incredibly poor article. An absolute disgrace. How can you even call yourself a journalist??? Take a look at the USA first before dismissing other parts of the world
August 14, 2009 at 3:11pm by Del Patel
Incredibly poor article. An absolute disgrace. How can you even call yourself a journalist??? Take a look at the USA first before dismissing other parts of the world
August 14, 2009 at 3:11pm by Del Patel
Incredibly poor article. An absolute disgrace. How can you even call yourself a journalist??? Take a look at the USA first before dismissing other parts of the world
August 14, 2009 at 3:11pm by Del Patel
Incredibly poor article. An absolute disgrace. How can you even call yourself a journalist??? Take a look at the USA first before dismissing other parts of the world
August 14, 2009 at 3:11pm by Del Patel
Incredibly poor article. An absolute disgrace. How can you even call yourself a journalist??? Take a look at the USA first before dismissing other parts of the world
August 14, 2009 at 3:28pm by Carlos Pradera
After having lived in Dubai for a short period, I find this article to be quite a negative and one-sided one which appears to be a consequence of not knowing much about Dubai in the first place. Sure Dubai experienced a downturn like the rest of the world's economies, but that fact is that they are on track for a earlier recovery than many.
Regarding the "exodus" one must be very careful as during the months May - September many expats leave Dubai and head home for vacations as that is when their children are out of school, returning when classes begin again. This is a normal happening in Dubai which cannot and should not be misconstrued as an exodus.
I am rather disappointed at the FC for publishing this article. As some have already said, it is very easy to be negative. I would encourage the authors to spend some time in Dubai before writing anything else.
August 14, 2009 at 11:08pm by Ibn Haitham
Dude, for the last six years; I've been living in the U.S, in one of the most wealthy areas of Beverly Hills, Newport Beach and Irvine... So many of my friends have lost their jobs, foreclosed on their homes, lost all their toys (fast expensive cars, boats...etc...) Some are in the Loan Mod stage and their credit is locked and cant even finance a 10K car!!! Things are really bad here in the States! Remember; the housing expansion and the poisonous sub-prime lending feast started here in the States and spread globally after the bubble burst!! Obviously, we live in a global economy and Dubai will be impacted...but it is not as bad as you make it out to be! So c'mon dude...that's not the end of Dubai as your gloom and doom headline emphatically suggests! BTW,if you've done the minimal historical research required by any respected journalist covering such an elaborate topic; you would have discovered that Dubai has been a thriving center for business and trade between Asia, the Middle East and Europe for decades! The oil boom has contributed immensely to its rapid ascension into a glorious modernity; but the will and the determination has always been there...desert sand or not! And that comment by Mr.Peter Harradine about Emiratis not having culture and no history is down right racist and speaks volumes of his ignorance and bigotry. Go Dubai!!!
August 15, 2009 at 10:07am by Shoaib Gill
After reading all the comments posted by other readers it is obvious that your view of Dubai is one sided. Governemnt is super efficient here and they proactively work on every challenge. Even in this downturn this place is stable, all job losses is just an indication of market fluctuation. Any company would go for restructuring to steer the company through difficult times.
You should have given an unbiased view of Dubai.
August 16, 2009 at 12:02pm by Vivek Shroff
Great article. You have covered a lot of ground. Dubai was basically a bubble. Real estate was being driven up more through gifts to celebrities rather than on merit. You have not fully covered the scale of bad debts faced by bankers around the world. The strong objections raised to this article, shows the PR power of the powers that be. From, Vivek Shroff www.viveka.me
August 21, 2009 at 10:28am by Susan Macaulay
Yet another one-side article on the supposed demise of Dubai. Ho hum. Dubai is no better or worse off than many other places in the world.
I reside in Dubai now, and have lived in the United Arab Emirates for 16 years. I've blogged about this issue and the reporting thereof on several occasions.
Here are links to a couple of posts for those who may be interested:
http://www.amazingwomenrock.com/myblog/why-blame-it-on-dubai.html
http://www.amazingwomenrock.com/myblog/an-open-letter-to-johann-hari-of-...
Suggest you try for some balance next time around. Oh and BTW, check your facts as well: for example, "a quarter of the world's supply" of cranes is an urban legend.
August 22, 2009 at 11:51am by asdf asdf
It was only a matter of time before this happened. The whole "debt prison" thing was very concerning to me. I shouldn't really be surprised though, there are countless cases where Dubai has arrested people who don't in any way deserve to be imprisoned. The laws are barbaric over there.
August 28, 2009 at 1:22am by VALENTINA RADU
I have relatives living in Dubai.Your article is so far from reality .Yes the city is afected by the current situation the planet is in, but the city is one of the most vibrante and as for the foreigners that lose their jobs and they have 30 days to pay their debts and leave,
to be honest it seems like a line from a second hand spagheti movie.
September 26, 2009 at 1:02pm by Nigel Colin
Whoa - hang on there folks! I am a little surprised at the negative comments to this article. I live in Dubai and have lived here for a number of years and I don't know why so many here are so defensive about this article. Are you paid to write these comments?
Let's look at the facts - everyone knows there's about 3x as many new apartment buildings as needed. It's going to result in much lower prices and a very long adjustment period. Nobody in the construction industry is getting paid or has been paid in months. It's a complete mess. Oh, and did I mention that you can go to jail if you can't pay your debts or bounce a cheque? The author of this article was factually correct in everything he said.
Instead of writing these silly criticisms of this article, why don't you go try to sell your villa? I can tell you that it's got a long way to go (down) before it hits bottom. This is a cataclysm unlike the world has ever seen.
By the way - note to the author - the opening line about the desert reclaiming whatever is built upon them - brilliant! Very catchy - as is the title of the article. I suspect that accounts for all the delusional support from this part of the world. Go count all the empty villas people!
September 27, 2009 at 2:01pm by Hassan Mikail
I was shocked by the Dubai bashing. had by share of blurbs on twitter @hmikail
Still don't understand how a publication such as FC published such a WRONG report!
September 27, 2009 at 2:02pm by Hassan Mikail
I was shocked by the Dubai bashing. had by share of blurbs on twitter @hmikail
Still don't understand how a publication such as FC published such a WRONG report!
September 30, 2009 at 2:38am by Octavio Franco
Excellent article....
October 22, 2009 at 9:55am by Fiona Robbins
Its no worse in Dubai than anywhere else. Flights to Dubai are still fairly busy with businessmen as well as tourists.