Building Dubai: The City in the Desert
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ย. 2024
- Featuring everyone's favorite pub quiz answer, The Burj Khalifa.
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Still waiting for the megaprojects video on all of Simon's channels
If Simon won't do it, someone else should do it as a semi-parody. (Bald head and beard required.)
That'll probably happen when he has another 20 channels under his belt
@@spritemon98 so some time next week?
1:30 - Chapter 1 - The emirates
3:20 - Chapter 2 - Ancient history
4:20 - Chapter 3 - Introduction of islam
5:00 - Chapter 4 - 19th century
7:20 - Chapter 5 - Oil
9:15 - Chapter 6 - The emirates unite
10:15 - Chapter 7 - Dubai golden age
11:15 - Chapter 8 - Dubai's megaprojects
15:45 - Chapter 9 - Dubai today
Back in the 80s the comic strip cat Garfield was always trying to ship the cute kitten Nermal to Abu Dhabi. The joke doesn't hit right now, because Abu Dhabi is no longer a desert wasteland.
Well it can if the context means that Garfield wanted to send nermal somewhere very far away from where he lived.
If he went as an indentured worker he wouldn’t have a good time…
Selling Nermal into servitude would have provided much needed Lasagna money.
lol someone else here remembers Garfield's Abu Dhabi song.
I taught in Dubai 1974-1976 when the tallest building was the Sheika Latifa and we shopped in the suq. Went back about 3 years ago and couldn't find anything that was there when I was.
Burj Latifa is still there
Microproject: The first test tube baby
Next week Simon will have a new channel called Microprojects about microscopic inventions. Way to go, why not send him some magic spoon and cocaine while you're at it? He needs to see his wife and kid some time. 🤭
Side projects is the channel for that
@@slcpunk2740 that’s why they should legalize medical cocaine
Oh! That's a good one!
@@northlandgaming8460 approve proposition 208 today! XDDD
Perfect video on Labor Day !! Because the Town was made with every Labor abuse in the OSHA handbook
Come with me, and we'll see a world of OSHA violations.
@@garretth8224 I understood that reference
I've been to Dubai. By the time you get to the part of that mall with the indoor ski course, it's not even the most unexpected or overwhelmingly awesome thing you've seen in the past 30 minutes.
Next megaproject: Dubai's poop-truck parade!
Ahahaha
Yeah that wasn't very well thought-through
They really need it do the plumbing.
All the sewage from the Burj Khalifa has to be trucked to the treatment plant.
@@Tim_Hilux Poop-trucks! 😖
Wow, never knew it is now such a tourist magnet. I can't think of many places I'd be less interested in visiting.
Hmm ... I think I'd put Niamey below Dubai. Haven't heard much good about N'djamena either, from those who have gone there. And I'd pass up on Norilsk too.
It was the 5th most visited city in 2019 in the world.
I was in Dubai about 12 years ago, worst place I've been in my life: The tourist areas are nice & shiny, but the city proper is a hell-hole with badly built & maintained... Well, badly built & maintained *everything* really. The air-pollution's lousy too, most days you can't tell if it's smog or a sandstorm about to sweep in from the desert. Plus the squalor the 'migrant workers' (they're apparently, & this is according to the locals, actual slaves) live in is truly horrific. The endemic corruption doesn't exactly help, unless you're very rich of course, in which case you can bribe your way free from any crime. But what really got to me was the constant state of terror pretty much everyone who isn't rich lives in as a result of that corruption.
I had to fly there from Perth almost every week for 5 years before I retired at the start of the pandemic when AUS sealed the border and the thought of being trapped there scared the hell out of me. Our plant was about 12 miles west of the city, and those 12 miles was like a time machine going back in time. That's 22 hours a week on a plane because I refused to live there, that's what I thought of the place.
Exactly, it's just a shitty sandpit. Ps...you flew 22 hours every week?? Somehow I don't blame you
@@tonyatthebeach Yup, 11 hours each way on an Emirates A380 business class. Just treated it as two working days. Did it for 3 years. A lot of miles, but my company kept the miles. :(
Dubai is completely different now from 12 years ago.
It’s a whole world different now
I'm partial to the beauty of The American West (The Rockies, in particular) thank you.
Thanks for the refresh on the backing tracks Simon. Welcome relief to my ears ☺️
Hi Simon, great report, I have always found something astonishing about the Gulf and the Emirates /Middle East generally. The city of Dubai as with the other Emirates were built around the use of motor transport which has now created it's own monster. Even in Oman, not as flash or astonishing, getting around particularly in the heat is nearly impossible without a motor car. The rail line in Dubai has made a difference but with so many people (workers ) using it to get to work and home it is no longer a pleasant experience. One would have thought a modern development would have learned something of the mistakes of the west ? The attitude of most Emirati's when I was first there 1980s was plenty of room, plenty of oil, everyone will have a car eventually even the poor construction workers. Food for thought? B.T.W. Abu Dhabi is my favorite Emirate, The Canberra of the U.A.E.!
You should do a piece on Oman and how it went from being one of the poorest places on Earth to 1st world status, while avoiding the mistakes that the other gulf states made.
I’m genuinely curious. What mistakes?
@@TheBrianFlanagan Well, for one thing creating an economy where foreign workers do nearly everything (90% of the UAE's population is foreign workers). Sultan Qaboos wanted to make sure his people did a good portion of their own work. They also largely buried their culture under steel and glass, with the occasional "Culture village." Omani people often point out that the cities of the gulf states could be any big city, while Oman has managed to preserve a good deal of its culture while still becoming very modern. It's a balancing act, and not an easy one, but they didn't just bulldoze everything that came before and started pouring concrete. The other gulf nations also promoted a sense of privilege among those with long family lines in their respective countries. Oman promoted a sense of "Omaness" that included recent immigrants, minorities, etc. Not that everything is perfect. Some would say that the traditional culture being promoted is homogenized and paternalistic. But Omanis seem to be happy that their country didn't go the way of the other gulf states.
A really good read on this is "Cultivating the Past, Living the Modern: The politics of Time in the Sultanate of Oman" by Amal Sachedina.
Sounds interesting.
@@Bubbaist Yes, but the UAE didn't really have anything before oil was discovered. It was a barren wasteland for all intents and purposes.
These videos are all so good.
Would love to see a video highlighting the Great Lakes shipping industry and its impact on the economy of the bordering states and provinces. Can talk about how the weather in the lakes is unlike the world's oceans and how it's resulted in numerous shipwrecks and evolution of ships. Can include the building of the Welland Canal to bypass the Niagra Falls and the Chicago canal to Mississippi creating the "great loop". Also tie back to your Erie Canal video.
I visited Dubai a couple of years ago (before I knew about the slave labour) and did all the touristy things, but also explored around on the metro. The whole place is just mind-blowing. The people I met were all really nice and their hospitality was wonderful.
Nice until you hold hands in public
@@garretth8224 ohhh I'd be surprised that u were brainwashed. Dubai is a party city lol.
Nothing about the pooptrucks that empty the waste from the burj khalifa? lol
Its branding, all just a facade.
Long term socioeconomic and infrastructure investments lag behind compared to the present luxurious lifestyle.
Dubai is just an example of extremely wasteful extravagance.
I'm not convinced that when the oils gone all will be well (no pun intended)....cheers.
1% of GDP from oil seems pretty promising if true
Don’t lie…you properly intended that pun.😀
I’d be “into that sort of thing” if I could afford it. It is a world of riches the rest of us can just marvel at.
Been going to UAE for 30 years, the changes are amazing. Now traffic jams galore. I never seen water in Hatta and I been there few times
I'm surprised the Berg Kalifa hasn't been a Megaprojects yet. But then again there could be a ton of construction projects in Dubai that could be considered Megaprojects!
Shame about the plumbing of the Burj though....
@@dannybrierley6832 And the resulting huge line of poop trucks.
The artificial islands are sinking - not successful and the rest are not going to be built
Of the four big artificial island projects, only the Palm Jumeirah is doing decently well. That's the one you see in all the pictures. But yes, it's sinking, because the developers put three times as many houses on it as intended, to maximize profits. Then there's The World, intended as an exclusive villa district, but the only developed islands host a nightclub and a hotel resort (which aren't doing wonders for the desirability of having a villa there). Palm Jebel Ali was actually completed in 2008, but nothing has been built on it because it lies far outside the city, next to the noisy container port of Jebel Ali, and you have to go through an industrial area to get there. Palm Deira is the only uncompleted one, it had its name changed to Deira Islands, but still nothing has been built there. I think it's because of its relatively poor road and infrastructure connections (and you'd have to dig up the old town to improve that), and the generally low demand for new real estate in an already flooded market.
So yeah, not very successful. And then there are the other crazy plans, like The Universe and Dubai Waterfront. I don't think those were ever feasible, sine apparently they had dredged up most of the seafloor to build the existing islands.
Mega projects idea, the Child's Glacier Bridge, AKA The Million Dollar Bridge
Dubai is running out of oil and its oil production has plummeted. Dubai is an emirate and they're governed by the Emir. Abu Dhabi governs the seven emirates, because Abu Dhabi has the oil. Abu Dhabi has the oil, Dubai has oil, but is running out, and the other five emirates are basically broke.
Dubai itself isn't very reliant on oil. At least, not on oil production.
It does, however, rely a lot on real estate sales. Who buys real estate in Dubai? Mostly rich folks from neighbouring countries. How do they make their money? Uh, three letter word, starts with O, ends with L, with an I somewhere in the middle.
If the oil price collapses, Dubai won't be doing so well either.
Seems like you're a bad listener. He mentioned in the video that Dubai is very diversified. Also, why do you care if they run out of oil?
"But Simon, you forgot to mention the poop trucks!"
Probably because it's an urban legend and not true.
It was a thing around 2009-2012. Still is for parts of the industrial areas, I've heard.
not an urban legend, see here - Dubai Is A Parody Of The 21st Century [reupload]
@@mmdirtyworkz Just a heads up, that video refers to an article from cirka 2010. The poop trucks existed, but were phased out of downtown areas around 2011-2012 when the sewage system finished upgrading.
@@Codraroll wrong again as per this video, poop trucks still used as the system isn't built yet, maybe in 2025 - th-cam.com/video/b5_8Q4X05ME/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=LogicallyAnswered
@@mmdirtyworkz That video also only links two articles related to Burj Khalifa, one of which states the issue was resolved for that building in 2013. The other appears to be a trivia blog article from 2015, listing no sources on its own. A bigger upgrade of the Dubai sewage system is in the works, but Burj Khalifa itself appears to be connected to a wastewater grid. I've heard that poop trucks are still used in industrial areas, however.
Look at their sewage system. It's a fleet of trucks...
Thank you for the great video. As you correctly pointed out, Dubai and other states in the south of the Persian Gulf flourished only in the twentieth century; meanwhile, in the north of the gulf, Persians/Iranians maintained a continuous civilization throughout history. For that reason, that body of water is historically and internationally recognized as the Persian Gulf. I have seen Simon use the correct term in other videos, and maybe he wanted to be nice to Dubaians when he used the term Arabian Gulf at 8:56. I think he knows the correct name, and the historical facts are straight clear in this matter. I wish the best for Dubai, which has set an example of success in a troubled region.
I was only in Dubai on a stopover going somewhere decent once. And once was enough, It cost 25 euro for a pint of Heineken in the airport bar. What a hell hole, It would be my worst nightmare to get stuck there again
Without "black gold," they might find it difficult to trade anything for food imports. And places without fresh water might not have much of a future. It will be a spectacular ghost town.
Was just saying that it's already going downhill. Not due to resources, but poor financial decisions and general incompetence from the top down. They trying to invest in structure for tourism, but so many projects failing. Creek tower folding, Palm Islands needing constant upkeep they can't provide, and the World Islands being more of a disappointment than Jeb Bush lol
Petro doesn’t run out as people might assume.
It’s all about the profitability of extraction. We have lots of reserves all around the world that either for low market prices or for political reasons, they remain stored.
Diversification of anyone’s economy is a good thing, but oil won’t run out until long after we wont depend on it
If a resource is consumed faster than it can be replaced, that resource will eventually run out. Doesn't matter whether it take 100 years or 1000
Could you do a video about the Port of Houston/Ship Channel?
Most confusing border-area? ... try Baarle-Hertog in Belgium/Holland/Belgium....
Underrated comment by far. I being there it is funny.. I wonder how they solved the border issue when the border was closed for corona...
so the city of Dubai is so great, they had to name it twice? Dubai, Dubai. I'm getting nostalgic about my time in New York ☺️👍
You mean New York, New York?
6:54: Small point. That's the German cruiser Konigsberg arriving in Dar es Salaam in 1914. However, this photo is on the Wikipedia page for HMS Hyacinth so I guess that explains the mistake.🤔
The, "now if you're wondering if I've covered that here on Megaprojects- well guess what we have and you should check out that video after you finish this one!" video
Gee, I wonder how long before their man-made islands go under water (not long)!
Nakheel (the developer) admitted over a decade ago that the islands are already sinking. I assume they've done some urgent engineering in the meantime, but yes, Dubai city's shabbily built & falling apart.
America be like :
22 years to get the permits.
7 years to navigate the building regs
1 extra year for unions on strike
The US cares a bit more about workers rights.
unions in the US? lol.
Very unique place. In a good way and in a bad way.
Wow. Apparently Simon really nails his Arab names. Granted, it is far easier to read phonetically than Russian.
He doesn't
@@SamiiRSMT fair enough. I guess that should be that he mangles then less?
Been there, interesting place, I need to visit again and have more time.
I recommend everyone to watch Adam Something's video about Dubai, a real eyeopener.
Don't forget the ridiculous amount of poop trucks coming and going from the Burj khalifa because of the lack of a sewage system in such a monstrous building
1. Fascinating topic and great video.
2. It's so weird to see Simon's forced selfrestraint after watching the Blaze and the Criminalist for weeks.
And a great sequel to this video by Alan Something: Dubai Is A Parody Of The 21st Century [reupload]
Been there three or more times. It's just so big and hard to get around.
The first thing that came to mind was concrete. Things 20 years old looking bad
You just have to go there and make up your own mind. I met my wife in Abu Dhabi.
Awesome 👍
Sweet Top Gear throwback at 0:39.
wow, finally a balanced video on Dubai.
Hammond driving that Mercedes 6x6 in Dubai was one of my favorite segments of Top Gear
Captain Sulu....."An incident??!!"
Pls make a video about the Bismarck
simon could you make a video of your fav books
Yet has no underground sewerage and 100s poop trucks each day. “Future”
Those towers burn surprisingly easy.
It good time to visit Dubai as the expo is starting in October this year
A-10 Thunderbolt II video please?
I would try to speed even more just to get pulled over
Hi simon
Do a video about the Bell UH-1 Iroquois Helicopter, the iconic Huey from Vietnam
If I was an advisor to one of the sheiks, I would probably tell to do what their doing now which is to make Dubai a tourist attraction for the easily impressed and naive rich. But, I would also stress the fact the emirate needs to be self sustainable. Like, water... make desalinization plants profitable by making the byproducts (salts) into exports and goods - batteries, solar panels/thermo-plants. Maybe even producing a surplus of potable water to sell to its neighbors and/or using it for irrigation. To me, water and cheap energy seems to be the next gold rush in that part of the world. Then again, I probably would get beheaded for inadvertently creating a middle-class there for these ideas...
Actually all is mostly done or planned.. Check out Dubai 2040 or soothing plan. Be cerful of haters propoganda.
Nice one fact-boi - enjoyed that one. Have you done the ISS yet?
NM - I found it. 😊
2722 feet. That's over half a mile. That is one tall tower. I wonder how deep the footings go?
Dubai is very impressive! but I think its most impressive incarnation has yet to come - although 'the world' looks messy! - it's only cool if it's a perfect 1:1 Mercator projection. Fill it in, spread it out - make a big natural looking island and fill it with trees - it'll be lovely to look at from the city
The islands are mostly sand banks separated by shallow water, without connections to electricity, water, sewage, or road grids. Building anything there is neither easy nor cheap, which is why the majority of them are completely undeveloped more than a decade after they were built. Erosion is also doing a number on them. If a storm were to pass through the area, the place would probably become the subject of some interesting lawsuits.
@@Codraroll - Exactly, it's a failed project - plant loads of trees, it'll help to stabilize what land remains and it'll look a lot better than a bunch of sand banks
@@JohnnyWednesday Kinda hard to plant trees in sand banks soaked with salt water and baked by the desert sun, though. Those aren't very good growth conditions for most trees. After all, the Arab peninsula isn't really known for having forests.
#FunFact: *The United Arab Emirates* was FKA *The Trucial States* (like how *The United States of America* was FKA *The United Colonies!)*
🇦🇪 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 🇬🇧
would you do videos on the Confederation Bridge and SNOLAB please?
Good sir Simon, do you ever film these without pants on?
so Tacky it makes Vegas look downright Edwardian
For the next video, might want to consider doing one WTC and the 9/11 memorial, lots of careful planning and fits and starts for project
is there a building 7 memorial too?
You should do a megaproject about the internet
Hehehehe...Venezuela now...Greetings from Venezuela...
@megaporjets actually Dubai and the use had a busy time during the Bronze Age ( hatta, al sofouh and al qusais Dubai city had settlement dating to the Bronze Age) sarooq al Hadid in the desert of Dubai was busy in the Iron Age indicating a trade route between the area and other parts of arabia and the Middle East Dubai is not just a desert and also there is a lot to discover in future years in Dubai and the rest of the uae just stay tooned
Am I the only one picturing playing the most epic board game of live action risk on The World Islands?
Poop trucks tho, I couldn’t live somewhere without a sewer system
"Dubai has spent its oil money wisely..."
looks, sounds, and feels like a paid commercial??
Norway has spent some of its oil wealth wisely. UAE built a bunch of skyscrapers that will be useless after fossil fuel is used up.
he was pretty brutal at the end.
@@markrobinowitz8473 norway is beyond lucky, they don't need to spend 1 dollar on military and intelligence agency.
i dont think i need to tell you who they gonna defend from.
@@Jack-he8jv yes, if i was going to do a masqueraded payed commercial, i'll do the same thing
@@tarazan3456 so you think the emirate payed him to shit talk their country?
he said that they used slaves instead of foreign workers while not mentioning that those "slaves" make 3 times as much money as if they worked in worse conditions back home. (they make so much that they can pay for their families and send their kids to universities)
the bad living conditions is only relative to yourself.
compared to living in their home countries its heaven to them.
Yes, they have done a brilliant job of city and sort-of nation building, even allowing for some of the criticisms already posted. But even comparable places like Hong Kong and Singapore have their vulnerabilities, and those had far more substance going for them as trade centres. Take away the oil at last, make the climate incrementally worse every year, and why does Dubai make sense as a trade or tourism hub again? Or a real estate purchase? At least Hong Kong needed a Chinese takeover to show its vulnerabilities, and even at that it's a fantastically important city yet. Singapore sits on a real trade route with important places.
Welcome to the world of Simon "I could give a fUck about any details" Whistler.
It also has a horrendous slave labor problem where the ones in charge take many poor people or people in debt's passports and force them into brutal labor in the staggering heat!!! Dubai has a very dark underbelly that they work very hard to keep under wraps!!!
Qatar is the same as well.
Hey Simon. I have this idea about the evolution of currency and coin making
Another megaproject. the making Maasvlakte 2 harbor of Rotterdam...
Edit: I have to say it, compare that to size of Jebel Ali. Nothing to sneeze at.
What is the classical piece used around around 7:16 ?
How can you do a video on Dubai and not mention the poop trucks.
The Burj Khalifa has no sewage system so there is line up of tanker trucks taking away poo 24/7.
There is…..
8:08 Johnny Harris?
Never forget that the Burj Khalifa isn't connected to a sewer system and needs a convoy of poop trucks to empty it daily
Du Troit. When the dinosaur blood runs out it's back to throw rocks at each other as it's been for centuries.
Uhh guys did you forget you already did a Geographics vid about Dubai?
That's a different channel, yo.
@@watcherofwatchers With the same producers and host, yo.
@@j.a.weishaupt1748 Irrelevant. They are different channels with a different area of focus.
Just don't watch it if you aren't interested.
Ah Dubai, the hot spot for luxury escorts to arrange big money meetings with millionaire clients. Strict business
Thanks. One of your better videos. How about similar videos about rise of SIngapore and Hong Kong? Also, a series on island states, for example: Faroe Islands, St Helena, Ascension Island, Iceland, Easter Island, Malta and others. How do such small economies survive? These might be more appropriate for your less than "Mega" projects channel. Wikipedia gives an extensive list to keep your writers busy for a while en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_island_countries
The uae looks like a water unicorn
Dubai is beautiful on the outside. Inside; its the manifestation of everything wrong with our civilization.
Dubai was liiiiit
I do like all the videos Simon puts up. But I feel like I've watched Simon giving me the history of Dubhi before?! Even though this is my first time watching this video 🤔
I think there’s been a few on various things in Dubai and the UAE.
Reminder: Dubai still relies on septic tanks as it doesn't have a sewage system 🤦♂️
What?! Really?
Don't really, Dubai has one of the most connected water and sewer distribution system. It's just the phasing between all Dubai megs developments had created trans years of non connection.
@@xmyvibex you realize that "one of the most connected" and "years of non connection" are contradictory, right? 🙄
Oh and I forgot to add I was there in the summer and it was freakin' hot!
9:28 why would it be for any other reason?
Didnt mention the city does not have a sewer system ... at all ... no underground pipes ... at all ... anywhere, just storage containers, and poop trucks that haul 7 tons a day out of town.
There is a plan to build a system, costing about $12 Billion, but that will take quite a while to get online.
Once oil runs it Dubai will go back to fishing and pearl diving. Dubai doesn't invest on its people and it would be their downfall if policies don't change. If you compare Dubai and Shenzhen economies the latter is very diversified and could withstand economic shocks. Dubai is transitioning to be a tourist oriented economy in the future and that is really a good way to be the next Nauru. Singapore and Jamaica both got their independence from the British in the 1960's, both have similar GDP, but the biggest mistake Jamaica did was its focus on tourism. While Singapore today is such a powerhouse in hi-tech industries for they invested on their populations education. Tourism is good but it should not be the primary driver for a countrys economy.
100,000 elephants 🐘 🤣
#FunFact: *Qatar 🇶🇦 & Bahrain* 🇧🇭 were supposed to be The 8th - 10th Emirates! (Almost like The United States of Arabia!?)