Dubai

⭐ In the context of Dubai, what pivotal actions in the early 20th century most directly contributed to its transformation into a regional trade hub?

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⭐ Core Definition: Dubai

Dubai is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai. It is on a creek on the southeastern coast of the Persian Gulf. As of 2025, its population stands at 4 million, 92% of whom are expatriates. The wider urban area includes Sharjah and has a population of 5 million people as of 2023, while the Dubai–Sharjah–Ajman metropolitan area has a population of 6 million people.

Founded in the early 18th century as a pearling and fishing settlement, Dubai became a regional trade hub in the 20th century after declaring itself a free port (1901) and extending the Creek (1961). Modest oil revenue helped accelerate Dubai's development from the 1960s to the 1990s, when the city started to diversify its economy. In 2018, oil production contributed less than 1% to the emirate's GDP.

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In this Dossier

Dubai in the context of Built environment

The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human activity and were created to fulfill human desires and needs. The term can refer to a plethora of components including the traditionally associated buildings, cities, public infrastructure, transportation, open space, as well as more conceptual components like farmlands, dammed rivers, wildlife management, and even domesticated animals.

The built environment is made up of physical features. However, when studied, the built environment often highlights the connection between physical space and social consequences. It impacts the environment and how society physically maneuvers and functions, as well as less tangible aspects of society such as socioeconomic inequity and health. Various aspects of the built environment contribute to scholarship on housing and segregation, physical activity, food access, climate change, and environmental racism.

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Dubai in the context of United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), also known simply as the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, situated at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal semi-constitutional monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as its national capital. The UAE borders Oman to the east and northeast, and Saudi Arabia to the southwest; it shares maritime borders with Qatar and Iran in the Persian Gulf, and with Oman in the Gulf of Oman. As of 2024, the UAE has an estimated population of over 10 million; Dubai is the country's largest city. Islam is the majority religion and Arabic is the official language; English is the most spoken language and the language of business.

The present-day United Arab Emirates is located within the historical region of Eastern Arabia, which was oriented to maritime trade and seafaring. The Portuguese arrived in the region around 1500 and set up bases on the territory while waging wars against the Persians. After their expulsion, the Dutch controlled the straits and established global maritime dominance. By the 19th century, with pearling becoming a major economic activity, piracy became rampant in the gulf, prompting British intervention; local sheikhdoms formed a pact with the United Kingdom to create the Trucial States, a British protectorate that was effectively shielded from attempted Saudi and Omani suzerainty. The Trucial States remained under British influence until full independence as the United Arab Emirates in 1971. Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi and the country's first president (1971–2004), oversaw rapid development of the Emirates by investing revenues from newly found oil into healthcare, education, and infrastructure.

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Dubai in the context of Burj al Arab

The Jumeirah Burj Al Arab (Arabic: برج العرب, lit.'Arab Tower'), commonly known as Burj Al Arab, is a luxury hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Developed and managed by Jumeirah, it is one of the tallest hotels in the world, although 39% of its total height is made up of non-occupiable space. Burj Al Arab stands on an artificial island that is 280 m (920 ft) from Jumeirah Beach and is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge. The shape of the structure is designed to resemble the sail of a dhow. It has a helipad near the roof, at a height of 210 m (689 ft) above ground.

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Dubai in the context of London Business School

London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degrees in management and finance, MBA and PhD). Its motto is "To have a profound impact on the way the world does business".

London Business School's main campus is located at Sussex Place in London, adjacent to Regent's Park. In 2012, it expanded its teaching facilities by 70% by acquiring the Marylebone Town Hall (now The Sammy Ofer Centre), and in 2017 the neighboring Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. LBS has a secondary campus in Dubai that is dedicated to the Dubai EMBA and Executive Education.

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Dubai in the context of Skyline

A skyline is the outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city's overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the land.

City skylines serve as a pseudo-fingerprint as no two skylines are alike. For this reason, news and sports programs, television shows, and movies often display the skyline of a city to set a location. The term The Sky Line of New York City was introduced in 1896, when it was the title of a color lithograph by Charles Graham for the color supplement of the New York Journal. Paul D. Spreiregen, FAIA, has called a [city] skyline "a physical representation [of a city's] facts of life ... a potential work of art ... its collective vista."

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Dubai in the context of Jeddah

Jeddah is a governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located along the Red Sea coast in the Hejaz region. Jeddah is the commercial center of the country. It is not known when Jeddah was founded, but Jeddah's prominence grew in 647 when the Caliph Uthman made it a travel hub serving Muslim travelers going to the holy city of Mecca for Islamic pilgrimage. Since those times, Jeddah has served as a gateway for millions of pilgrims who have arrived in Saudi Arabia.

With a population of about 3,751,722 people as of 2022, Jeddah is the largest city in Mecca Province, the largest city in Hejaz, the second-largest city in Saudi Arabia (after the capital Riyadh), and the ninth-largest in the Middle East. It also serves as the administrative centre of the OIC. Jeddah Islamic Port, on the Red Sea, is the thirty-sixth largest seaport in the world and the second-largest and second-busiest seaport in the Middle East (after Dubai's Port of Jebel Ali).

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Dubai in the context of Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's second-most populous city, after Dubai. The city is situated on a T-shaped island, extending into the Persian Gulf from the central-western coast of the UAE.

Abu Dhabi is located on an island in the Persian Gulf, off the Central West Coast. Most of the city and the Emirate reside on the mainland connected to the rest of the country. As of 2023, Abu Dhabi's urban area had an estimated population of 2.5 million, out of 3.8 million in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), headquartered in the city, is estimated to manage approximately US$1 trillion in assets, making it the world's third-largest sovereign wealth fund after Norway's Government Pension Fund Global and China's CIC. Abu Dhabi itself has over a trillion US dollars' worth of assets under management in a combination of various sovereign wealth funds headquartered there.

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Dubai in the context of List of cities in the United Arab Emirates

The table below shows a list of every city in the UAE with a population of at least 10,000, listed in descending order. The capitals are shown in bold. The population numbers are of the cities, and not the emirates, often with the same name. There is also an additional list of the rest of the populated settlements in the UAE under 10,000 (not listed in descending order).

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Dubai in the context of Shipyards

A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes more involved with original construction, dockyards are sometimes more linked with maintenance and basing activities. The terms are routinely used interchangeably, in part because the evolution of dockyards and shipyards has often caused them to change or merge roles.

Countries with large shipbuilding industries include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam. The shipbuilding industry is more fragmented in Europe than in Asia where countries tend to have fewer, larger companies. Many naval vessels are built or maintained in shipyards owned or operated by the national government or navy.

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