Why Dubai's Man-Made Islands Are Still Empty

in 2003 the construction of the multi-billion dollar project the world was announced the man-made archipelago shaped like a map of the earth was planned to feature luxurious houses and tourist resorts located all within just a short boat ride from Dubai but today more than ten years after the completion of these islands there is hardly anything built on them what happened here [Music] [Music] in the early 2000s real-estate developers are an enormous opportunity in creating artificial land off the coast of Dubai the real estate boom in the emirate seemed unstoppable and the demand for ocean properties was huge Dubai had already expanded along most of its coasts so Nikhil properties a real estate company owned by the government of Dubai made plans to radically change the region all within just two decades the company planned free different island projects that when viewed from space should represent the shape of palm trees palm jumeirah Palm Jebel Ali and lastly palm Dara by far the largest one in addition the world was announced different areas were planned from low density housing high-density complexes and islands that can be used commercially in a second phase the world was planned to be supplemented by another even bigger project the universe man-made islands were planned that resembled the shape of the Sun the moon as well as the planets of the solar system the Milky Way and a distant galaxy next to Palm Jebel Ali another gigantic project was to be created the Dubai waterfront these islands should be formed like a star in Crescent an important symbol in Islam and the construction project was advertised as the largest man-made development project worldwide the shape should also serve as a shelter to protect Palm Jebel Ali from erosion with all of these projects most of the coast of Dubai would have been transformed as on one side the emirate of Abu Dhabi begins and on the other side there is the emirate of Sharjah in retrospect the level of confidence with which these projects were advanced is astonishing but the islands were seen as prestige projects that serve the larger goal of developing Dubai into a major to his hotspot and thereby creating new income sources for a place it gained most of its wealth for the extraction of oil now let's take a look at what happened to these ambitious plans in 2001 Nikhil property started building the palm jumeirah this project alone would double the length of the coastline of Dubai in 2006 the land reclamation was completed in the first apartments were already handed over the strands of the palm mainly host private houses while a number of larger luxury hotels were built on the breakwater ring around the palm that protects the palm from storms while palm jumeirah was still under construction our project started to take shape the 21st century seems to have reached a new peak in the rate of growth of Dubai the real estate market experienced a rapid boom in a number of prestige projects such as the Burj Khalifa the largest building in the world were built in September 2008 the Atlantis Hotel on Palm Jumeirah celebrated its opening with a fireworks show on the entire palm but the celebrations couldn't change that the international financial crisis started to affect Dubai just last week Dubai spent twenty million dollars for a party to open the Atlantis Hotel the headline was Dubai parties as the rest of the world reels from the economic crisis perhaps not anymore Dubai has been hit by the global financial crisis especially in real estate mega projects like the artificial island off the coast are in danger of collapse many construction sites have shut down due to a declining demand the price of plots of land fell rapidly and a development of Palm Jebel Ali came to a standstill in 2011 Nikhil properties offered investors refunds and the project has been on hold ever since the empty sand banks that reach seven kilometers or 4.3 miles into the sea appeared strangely forgotten the palm is located behind the Jebel Ali port with no city development near it and most of the visions dreamed up by the project planners seemingly evaporated in a puff of sand the land reclamation of the Dubai waterfront is nowhere near as advanced but you can already see the shape of some of the islands on satellite images this project as well has been discontinued a similar situation exists with palm dara the land reclamation had already progressed but it is far from complete in 2013 mikheil decided to try to save this project by rebranding it instead of continuing to create new land the project was scaled down and is now just called Dara Islands and there is current construction work underway with a planned mall two high-rise buildings and a shopping street finally the world the land creation was mostly completed and a large part of the islands had already been sold before the financial crisis but the islands were just not developed forever as many of the investors that bought them were facing their own problems in the aftermath of the financial crisis and although investments into new projects in Dubai increased after the crisis the world project couldn't benefit from this as there was less confidence on the return on any such investments ten years of the initial project reveal the world already seemed to no longer fit in the current time many concerns about the longevity of the project arose as news reports stated that the smaller channels between the island started to sand up and the rising sea levels are a growing danger for project like this in general growing concerns around land reclamation projects came up residents at Palm Jumeirah criticized their water quality while the breakwater is necessary to protect the palm from erosion it also hinders the natural tidal movement and sea water within the palm became stagnant additionally environmental concerns got more attention piling up hundreds of thousands of tons of sand on a seabed that previously had been almost evenly flat has an impact on marine ecology the islands are composed mainly of sand that was dredged from devised shallow coastal waters and there are concerns that dis leads to a destabilization of the coastal soil which could lead to an erosion of the natural coastline even if these consequences have been known for a long time it is becoming increasingly difficult to market projects that are considered environmentally harmful many of the projects promoted in recent years are therefore trying to incorporate environmental compatibility in addition the difficult living conditions of migrant construction workers in Dubai is a topic that is receiving more media attention [Music] nevertheless there are development projects on these islands that are starting to take shape initially there was only one island that had been developed the villa served as a show house to promote the project in summer 2012 the Royal Island Beach Club opened on Lebanon Island the club hosts daytime tourists that can get there by boat the biggest project however was announced in 2014 an Austrian real estate investor plans to develop a number of projects on the European islands the project is called the heart of Europe and the goal is to create kind of a mini version of Europe with luxurious hotels that are inspired by places like Venice or Monaco in addition to a number of restaurants with European food the investor also plans to build a Plaza on the Swiss Island where there will be artificial snow the project is currently under construction and time will tell whether it will bring the desired economic success there are risky development projects almost everywhere in the world and everywhere in the world some of them fail in urban development prestige projects often serve a greater role than being financially successful by their own as they can attract tourists to a region and therefore support the greater local economy in a variety of ways in addition to attracting tourism such prestige projects also often serve as national pride or they intend to symbolise the start of a new era for example by using new construction methods or by breaking World Records now if Dubai is questioned for creating planned landmarks then the same criticism must certainly be applied elsewhere as well but still the question remains how these projects that change the coastal landscape of Dubai will be viewed in retrospect at a time when Dubai's growth slows down and when the ambitious dream that this city represents stops being built and just has to be lived [Music] thank you so much for watching I recently received a package from YouTube with the silver creator Awards and so I just wanted to use that as an opportunity to say thank you there are many more videos and productions so if you enjoy this content please join in and subscribe [Music]

Channel: neo

Views: 14,655,457

Rating: 4.82762 out of 5

Keywords: Dubai, UAE, tourism, economy, islands, the world, investment, project, map, explained, why, how, where, explainer, land reclamation, urban development, artificial island, housing, planning, Exploring Dubai’s Empty $13 Billion Man-Made Islands, $13 billion, Dubai Evolution

Id: riETCR7FnZE

Length: 10min 56sec (656 seconds)

Published: Mon May 25 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/JimmyTheChimp]

I see this was in your YouTube recommended today as well.

[u/[deleted]]

Dubai is a place I've travelled through many times, but never thought once to visit. Perhaps its just because I'm staying at hotels and airports, but I've always felt a depressing aura about the place. Like it's nothing but a bunch of expensive empty buildings. The same way a CBD feels on a sunday night, but every day.

It reeks of opulence but seems completely devoid of character.

[u/sabbathan1]

Over 10 years ago it seemed like these islands would never work, and I thought they were doomed. Looks like I was right.

[u/doritosdustinthewind]

I've lived in Dubai pretty much my whole life (about 21 years) and even I think they take it too far sometimes when it comes to architectural "innovative" structures, they just seem a little pointless. I do however recommend going through the older parts of Dubai, away from the hustle and bustle of the main city; there are various cultures, foods and experiences just waiting to be explored! These are the parts where most of the residents live, so you'll get a proper feel for what we experience on a day to day basis.

[u/8thoursbehind]

Dubai is Milton Keynes if Milton Keynes discovered an oil field.

[u/GoodCanadianManners]

As interested as I am in this video I couldn’t get beyond 3 minutes. The narrators voice was too distracting for me.

[u/AnivaBay]

Dubai and the UAE is such a weird case as an ultrarich country build on what's essentially shifting sands. Anyone see that video of the hundreds of septic tank trucks that bring the poop out of Dubai every day because there's no sewage system?

[u/AnotherUna]

Hopefully the same problems will Plague China with their artificial islands they are building to assert their ridiculous claims in the south East Sea. It seems like from what the video says they’ve had problems maintaining them.

[u/BaconOverdose]

Dubai will become uninhabitable due to rising temperatures, simple as that.