Many governments worldwide have recognised the importance of cities and urban planning for sustainability and implemented policies and infrastructure to support this. Dubai is no different with big plans to become one of the most sustainable cities in the world. It has built a ‘Sustainable City’ neighbourhood, encouraged residents to switch to electric cars and updated building codes to ensure infrastructure meets the green standards through ‘Al Sa’fat’, a grading system that determines the environmental impact of buildings. However, these changes are not equally reflected for all residents, especially excluding the low-income migrants who do not fit the new sustainable Dubai imaginary.
Focusing on urban planning allows for localised and effective improvement of issues such as pollution and urban sprawl that are barriers to sustainability in the UAE. There is potential for positive social and ecological change within cities through climate urbanism, but this depends on the leadership’s desired image of the city, meaning anyone who is excluded from the sustainable city imaginary can quickly become invisible. Due to Dubai’s system of autocracy, the government and approved experts have full, uncontested control over the new vision for sustainability, and therefore the policies that create it. Thus, critics of Climate urbanism argue that while this system positions cities as sites of potential, it can also justify the exclusion of disadvantaged groups through environmental policies. The digitalisation of Dubai’s government transactions eliminates the need for over a billion sheets of paper a year while also allowing the thorough surveillance of its residents and their mobility. ‘Smart Dubai’, the city project that seeks to reinforce the image of the city as a desirable and sustainable place has streamlined processes relating to the economy, mobility and urban planning and has arguably sought to depoliticize citizens and prevent informality in the city.
A core feature of Dubai’s urban landscape is its zoning of the city into specifically designated areas such as Media City and Business Bay. This carries into residential areas, where individual neighbourhoods have defined characteristics, leading to a city segregated by income and social status. This has also increased the reliance on driving within the city, especially due to the lack of an adequate public transport system, reducing the mobility of low-income residents and exacerbating air pollution. Although the government has encouraged people to switch to electric or hybrid cars through numerous campaigns, this is not a viable solution for those who cannot afford a car at all and rely on public transport or car-sharing.
The ‘Sustainable City’, a gated community in Dubai that produces surplus energy via solar panels and recycles all of its water and waste internally is a poster child for Dubai’s sustainable development, avoiding 8000 tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2021. Energy use has been significantly reduced due to the north-facing homes shading each other, requiring 40% smaller air conditioning units and farming food in ‘biodomes’ along the green space in the neighbourhood. This impressive housing development even has a school and has prioritized local businesses to empower residents and support local products. However, despite most of the development being walkable, it is far away from any of Dubai’s centres and amenities, meaning driving is only reduced internally.
Dubai does not have unregulated informal settlements, instead, low-income groups are restricted to dense neighbourhoods, or even ‘labour colonies’ while the spacious, expensive neighbourhoods preferred by wealthy residents are exacerbating urban sprawl and limiting the available space for public green spaces and communal facilities. The dense living conditions that house Dubai’s huge number of migrant workers create significant disparities in quality of life, showing that Dubai’s sustainability policies do not serve or even include all members of society. Zoning allows for ‘invisible camps’ of migrant workers that are managed by their private sector employers to have strict control over residents’ mobility. The transient nature of migrant labour in Dubai, as well as strict deportation laws after 90 days of unemployment, mean employers can perpetuate the narrative that if workers do not like their conditions they may find another job or leave the UAE. This has created tension between the formal and informal urbanism of the city, with those who are excluded from Dubai’s Sustainable City imaginary being the ones upholding it through invisible processes such as construction, street cleaning and garbage collection. They are both a barrier and a necessity for the Sustainable Dubai the leadership is striving for.
Urban Political Ecology 