Christine Louis
Critical Reading and Writing 2
Final Draft
February 19, 2012
Dubai; the City of Disastrous Urban Planning
Dubai, the city of the future and wealth has the largest airport, twelve lane high ways and the most high tech transportation systems in the world. But does an architectural achievement make a city as large and expensive as Dubai a successful one? The over all organization of the city is similar to Le Corbusier’s beliefs that a city should incorporate segregation of the working class and those who live in cities. Le Corbusier believed that in order for a city to be successful as a “Great City” it must have geometrical grid like formation and have order in which different kinds of inhabitants are organized. Le Corbusier’s ideals reflected in hierarchy and division of businesses and residences. These ideas can lead to a failed urban planning. Dubai’s obsessive attention to grid like formations and its lack of culture and natural city development has lead it to fail as an urban development.

Parisian urban planner, Le Corbusier defines what makes a successful city in his chapter “The Great City”, which is part of his book The City of Tomorrow and it’s Planning. A great city is “the spiritual workshops in which the work of the world is done.” Le Corbusier stresses the importance of city planners having a detachment from history in order for new developments to thrive. Cities such as Paris, London and New York are not successful in that there is a sense of chaos with the way the streets are laid out. Paris lacks the organized grid like streets that Le Corbusier expresses is the ideal way to plan a city. “We strive for order, which can be achieved only by appealing to what is the fundamental basis on which our minds can work: geometry.” Cities that were built with the “Pack-Donkey’s Way” may have made sense at the time to build buildings when needed and allow the natural landscape determine where roads would be built. Now that we as educated city planners have more knowledge, occurring to Le Corbusier, we should be aware of the over population of cities and build structures like sky scrapers to accommodate the rising population and declutter the streets. Le Corbusier believed in efficiency, large (tall) living accommodations surrounding parks and families should be separated from the working class.

Dubai was built with Le Corbusier’s idea that a city should be built on a grid, in mind. More attention was paid to the actual buildings such as the Burj al-Arab building, which is considered the world’s tallest hotel. The palm shaped island and world islands are on the city’s edges separating the ultra rich from every one else. The work force that seems to dominate Dubai’s population is toward the center of the city. The streets are wide allowing traffic flow and there over the ground transportation system is the most efficient in the world. Dubai is too hot for most life to live on its own. But there are a few green golf courts and plant life that are constantly hydrated by gardeners commissioned by the government. For those who are not as wealthy there are plenty of skyscrapers such as the Burj Khalifa that can house thousands of people. Le Corbusier would agree as being a convenient solution to the expected large populations of people that would flock to the city.
Dubai is separated into sections that does not allow for different groups of people to mingle and interact with one another. Off the coast there are multiple groups of islands such as The World Islands and three palm shaped islands that house extremely expensive residences and vacation homes. Far from that is the tourist part of the city called Burj Dubai, which houses huge hotel buildings and an overwhelming amount of restaurants and shopping malls. Towards one side of the city there is the water front city that the average people live in tall buildings. Skyscraper living arrangements have failed due to the prices and the lack of appealed that living in a skyscraper would naturally have. Because the city is so hot and temperatures could rise as high as 120 degrees, it makes it impossible to walk along the streets. If it was not hot and tourists and city dwellers did walk along the streets they would notice the lack of culture and liveliness that cities like New York and Paris have.
There has been such a rush to build the tallest and most futuristic buildings and roads that the City planners have failed to realize what makes cities like London and Tokyo so great. It’s the people and the sidewalks that give a city life. Dubai greatly lacks the natural development of stores, cafes and galleries that Manhattan has. Stores are all clustered together in mega malls. Restaurants, schools, hospitals, and other public facilities are similarly grouped together. This does not allow a sense of community and growth for smaller businesses that older cities are known for.

Dubai is a brand new city that was planned from the very beginning to be a futuristic city that would out shine all the older cities. Le Corbusier’s ideas can be seen everywhere from the disregard to natural neighborhood formations to the lack of diversity and care for the culture of the Middle East. This city was designed on as specific grid, the streets are wide, residences and businesses are separated and nature is added to every inch of land that is possible. But in reality it was built with too much speed and now lacks the appeal to bring people to live there. When a city has too much order and lack of diversity it will not work. Order leads to cold streets and no room for personality and community.