INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY - THE PALM ISLAND by Shivangi Rajput

Dubai is a record-setter, a city that hosts the tallest building of the world, the Burj Khalifa, eye-popping shopping malls like the Dubai Mall, hotels re-defining luxury like the Burj-al-Arab, the longest gold shopping center, the Dubai Gold Souk, and many more. 

Adding a new feather to the cap, the man-made islands : The Palm Jumeirah, Deira Island, and Palm Jebel Ali and the most recent "The World". It is an ambitious project started by Nakheel Properties built on the coasts of the Dubai. The Creation of the islands started in 2001 and was largely financed from Dubai's income from petroleum.

A design view of the Palm Jumeirah (left) and Palm Deira (right) with The World and The Universe archipelagos.
 Picture source: Wikimedia common

The primary intention of this project was to attract more tourists to Dubai. These islands have luxuries world-class hotels, entertainment centres, spas and health centres, marinas, water parks, residential villas, shopping malls, cinema multiplexes, diving sites, etc.

Here we present the man-made islands in Dubai and its key features.

Palm Jumeirah

The Palm Jumeirah, the first of the series of Palm Islands in Dubai, well-known for its stylized palm-tree shaped design within a circle and it is expected to be a major attraction for beach lovers and leisure travellers. Palm Jumeirah was entirely built from sand and rocks. 

Sunrise at Shorelines, Palm Jumeirah
 Picture source: Wikimedia common

Palm Jumeirah
 Picture source: Wikimedia common

Palm Jumeirah is the site of private residences and hotels. By 2009, 28 hotels were opened on the site. A 5.4 km long monorail connect the Palm Jumeirah Island to the mainland of Dubai.

Deira Island

The Deira Island was initially planned to be part of the Palm Islands Dubai. Also known as the Deira Palm along with restaurants and cafes with a capacity to host about 250,000 people in numerous hotels, luxury apartments, and multi-purpose buildings. As of 2014, a shopping mall was developed.

Aerial view of Palm Deira
 Picture source: Wikimedia common

Model of Deira Island
 Picture source: Wikimedia common

Among all, Palm Deira is the largest of the three. The Deira Islands are four artificial islands linked to the mainland by a bridge.

Palm Jebel Ali

The Palm Jebel Ali is another major project in Dubai that will be 50% larger in size than the Palm Jumeirah. The key features of the Palm Jebel Ali will be a water theme park, boardwalks that will encircle the “fronds” of the palm-shaped island, spelling out a poem written in Arabic by a famous Arabian poet, and six marinas. 

Palm Jebel Ali
 Picture source: Wikimedia common 

The World

 Picture source: Wikimedia common

Perhaps the most ambitious project of the present times, ‘The World’ in Dubai is an artificial archipelago of small, closely spaced man-made islands that together represent the map of the world. But the pace of development slowed down in 2008 due to a financial crisis in the region. The project focuses on constructing 300 small islands into the shape of a World Map.

Environmental Concerns

The construction of the Dubai Palm Islands has caused several environmental changes resulting in the reduction of the aquatic life, the change in the wave patterns due to the construction of rock walls around the Palm island which have created an unusual patterns of waves weakening them because they now hit the obstruction instead of directly hitting the shores.

Sediments transported for the construction of the Palm island have decreased the amount of sunlight filtering down to the seashore vegetation that have injured the marine fauna.

Condition of Marine fauna
 Picture source:Google images 

Project risks:

• Water Pollution
• Sinking and shrinking 
• Loss of coastal shape
• Erosion of the coastal soil
• Weak soil due to constant exposure to water currents and wind
• Damage to the marine ecology (newly born fishes are not able to survive)