Economic and Structural Development of Dubai through Expo 2020 - Research Proposal Example

Economic and Structural Development of Dubai Through Expo 2020 Outline and Introduction Name: University affiliation Research Team The following are the research team members, their responsibilities and their specializations. S/No. Name Specialization Responsibility 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. Introduction A global exposition or simply expo is a world event where people from different parts of the globe come together to a specific city of a certain country to show their arts, goods, services and advance their countries (Heller, 2014). Expos have been in existence since when trading began. However, the current system of world fairs began in eighteenth century. a. Problem Statement The economic development of Dubai is important for Gulf of Persia. This is because Dubai is an important city in the global economy and Gulf of Persia too. We intend to find ways in which the Expo 2020 will help rise the current economic status of Dubai to advance it more. This will help it utilize the opportunity of hosting the expo. b. Background Information Dubai is a city that is an emirate of United Arab Emirates and is situated southeastern coast of Gulf of Persia. United Arab Emirates has seven territories or emirates with Dubai and Abu Dhabi have veto powers. It has the largest number of people in the country and is the second greatest territory. The greatest territory is the federal capital, Abu Dhabi (World Gazetteer, 2014). As a monarchy that is controlled by a constitution (Helpline Law, 2014), Dubai was founded by Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum (Zahlan, 1978). It has an area of 1,114 km2 and a population of about 2,269,000 as of August 2014 (Dubai Statistics Centre). In 1971, Dubai together with Ummal Al Qawain, Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah and Sharja formed United Arab Emirates with Ras Al Khaimah joining in 1972. A UAE dirham was adopted in 1973 leading to dissolution of monetary union with Qatar. The Gulf War in 1990 led to financial problems of the city. Investors withdrew from the city. However, in late 1990s foreign investors and traders began flooding from other countries like Kuwait even during the war. Dubai has its own judicial system different from the federal judicial system (Gulf Law, 2014). The legal system is Islamic with emphasis on Sharia law and Islam codes of conduct and life style. Most of residents of Dubai are not Arabs. Most are expatriates from other countries. According to the constitution of United Arab Emirates, Islam is the state religion of all emirates in the union. Hence, Dubai’s religion is Islam. However, there are religious groups in the country that worship in private homes or houses of worship. It is has emerged as an important economic point both in region of Persian Gulf and around the globe (Amburn, 2008). It is a major transport and cargo center in the region. It began getting revenue from oil as early as 1969 (Sampler & Eigner, 2008). This led to early expansion of the city. However, these reserves are partial hence production of petroleum slow. They currently account for 2% of the revenue (DiPaola, 2010). In addition, it is an important transport center with an Airport, Jebel Ali Airport and a seaport too. There various information technology companies operating there like HP, EMC Corporation, Microsoft, Oracle and IBM. There are international media companies too like CNN, AP, Reuters, BBC and financial services companies. By 2012, it was among the most luxurious cities in the globe and the most luxurious in Middle East (Bernard, 2013). It is among the excellent destinations to reside in Middle East (Gillian, 2011). In 2013, Dubai won the bid to host Expo 2020 becoming the first city in Middle East to do so (Kerr, 2013). c. Significance of Study This study will help Dubai to examine the achievements of other cities that held expositions. This will help it in planning on how to attain the best outcome from the expo. In addition, the study will aid in indentifying failings of some previous expos. This will help it not repeat similar mistakes as it carries out a maiden exposition in Middle East. Therefore, the research will give insight to the emirate of Dubai on how to achieve the maximum benefits from its maiden exposition. d. Research Question The research questions that will guide us are the following: 1) Where will the Expo 2020 be held? 2) Where and when has other expos been held? 3) What have been the achievements of the predeceasing expos? 4) What challenges have been encountered from these expos? 5) What can the Expo 2020 host learn from these expos? These questions will help us to maximize our area of research and ensure maximum utilization of the available resources regarding Expo 2020. e. Project Scope This research will deal with finding the impacts of the Dubai Expo 2020 on Dubai City and Emirate in concerning real estate, transport and communication, tourism, employment, trade and business and, technology. 2. Objectives of Research The main objective of the research is to bloom the economy of Dubai. Other objectives include: i. Ensuring continued growth of Dubai both as a city and emirate ii. Maintaining its position in world map in regard to economy, technology and tourism iii. Identifying ways through which Middle East and North Africa can be brought to the world affairs through the expo 3. Specific Aims This research aims to investigate the impacts on the following sectors concerning Expo 2020 as highlighted below: i. Real Estate Market Development Real estate deals with buildings, land and other associated properties. With the Expo 2020, Dubai city plans to benefit in real estate market. Buildings will be built that will serve as housing for the visitors during the Expo 2020. Other investors might plan to venture there businesses permanently in Dubai. Global companies might also open offices in Dubai city. This will also lead to need for housing facilities. This will in turn appreciate the value of these buildings and land in Dubai. In addition, land value will appreciate. The expo will lead to real estate market bloom as new investors, companies and businesses will want to be involved with the world exposition. This will attract more income from that sector. The income can be used to develop other sectors of Dubai city and to stabilize the companies involved. ii. Transport and Communication Infrastructure Development The existing transport network will be expanded to accommodate the transport needs of the visitors. Airport and the seaport will be expanded to aid more people to access the city. In addition, the road network will be upgraded to world class to enable quicker access of the destinations in the city. Railway will also be upgraded. The communication infrastructure will be improved to meet the communication demands of the visitors. This will lead to development of existing communication and transport network in Dubai. iii. Tourism Development The expo will attract many tourists to Dubai. This will greatly boost the already existing tourist market of the city. The visitors will reach the peak during the expo. Even after the expo, more visitors will be coming although at a lower rate. The expo will therefore greatly multiply the current visitor number to Dubai. This will lead to growth of tourism in Dubai. Income generated from this sector will then be used to develop other sectors of the emirate. iv. Employment Growth Various jobs have been created due to the expo. New companies have opened up such as in building and construction, logistics, hospitality among others. These companies require employees for them to run. This will has led to employment of jobless people in Dubai. In addition, the service industry will be providing self employment opportunities to Dubai people. The can undertake service provision to meet the demands of the visitors. This will lead to employment growth and reduce unemployment rate in Dubai. v. Technological Advancement New technology will be incorporated to develop the existing services and goods. This will require need for new skills and input. This will lead to inclusion of more advance and contemporary technology to develop the city. Hence, the existing city’s technology will be advanced to meet the new needs of services and goods production during the expo and period after. The expo therefore will aid in growth of Dubai’s technology sector. vi. Hospitality Industry Due to large number of visitors during the expo, there will be need for more hospitality facilities. Restaurants and eating out places will be expanded to cater for the increased demand for their services. This will lead to an increase in income generation by these hotels. The government will also earn through the taxes. The income will be used to develop other sectors of Dubai city as well as maintain its services. In addition, the visitors will need accommodation services. This will lead to expansion of the existing accommodation companies and creation of new ones. Due to large expected market, there will be a tremendous growth of these subsectors. Even after the expo, the companies will continue experiencing a market although at a lower rate compare to expo period. The expo will therefore aid in developing hospitality industry of Dubai. 4. Literature Review World expositions are a global event where many countries participate in it. Bureau of International Expositions currently organizes them. The exhibitions display variety of achievements in science, industry and culture. They are usually carried out between three and four months. The expositions do have a leisure area visitors enjoy themselves and have meals. Many expositions have been held in Europe, America and Asia (World’s Fair, 2014). Since 1933, Expositions have a theme for their activities. The first exhibition was held in 1851 at London’s Crystal Palace (Helyar, 2014).It had been organized by Prince Albert and Henry Cole. Joseph Paxton had designed the building. It had trees, statues and exhibits in it. It was projected to advance industrial level and exhibit production inventions to acquire fresh and superior market. The expo opened on 1 May 1851 and closed on 15 October 1851, lasting about five months. It attracted thirty-two countries with a visitors’ number of 6,039,000 and exhibitors number of fourteen thousand. The exhibition was on 10.5 hectares of land (Chapell, 2013). The impact of the exhibition was that Crystal Palace became globally known and a tourist site. In addition, the money gotten from the exhibition was used to found several museums in United Kingdom. These museums were Science Museum, Natural History Museum and Museum of Albert and Victoria. The exhibition introduced Colt Revolver, McCormick Reaper, Tara Brooch, and other discoveries of the time. The second exposition was held in Paris in 1855. It opened on 15 may 1855 and closed on 15 November 1855. It attracted 5,162,330 visitors from 34 countries (Chapell, 2013). This exhibition brought Palace of Industry into the world limelight. In addition, it brought the idea of wine classification. It also brought the invention of the sewing machine. Various other expositions continued to be held in different parts of the globe. Many inventions were showcased such as Calculator in London’s expo of 1862, telephone in Philadelphia’s expo of 1876 and out-of-doors electrical lighting in Paris’ expo of 1878. Eiffel Tower and automotive powered by gasoline were introduced in Paris’ expo of 1889. Ferris wheel was introduced in Chicago’s fair of 1893 while motion pictures were introduced in Paris’ expo of 1900. Controlled flights, ice-cream cones and wireless telegraphs were introduced in St. Louis’ expo of 1904 while stunt flying and kodachrome photos introduced in San Francisco’s expo of 1915. (Heller, 2014). From the Chicago’s exhibition of 1933, all expositions had themes that controlled them. Bureau of International Expositions (BIE) began controlling organization of expos in 1935. It determined where they would be organized and when. This brought a new era of world expositions. This regulated number of expositions in a year to one. Many inventions and ideas were further brought to the world like television, space exploration among others. Up to 1995, expos were held annually. However, due to shortcomings of the exposition of 1995 in Vienna led to stricter rules for the expos. They were to be held after five years from that time (Hodgson, 2013). However, there are various special expos held in each year. These specialized expos are also controlled by BIE. The Seattle’s expo of 1962 brought it on the global map. Initially it was unknown city where logging was prevalent activity. However, after the fair, it bloomed to world fame as a cultural and technological centre. The main feature of it is Seattle Space Needle, which was chief attraction of the expo. It is 184 meters high with deck to make observations and a rotating restaurant too. It has become a major tourist attraction in Northwest of USA (Expo 2020 Dubai, 2014). Expos have led to economic blooming of both host cities and countries. After the fairs are over, the cities turn to be tourist attractions who like to experience firsthand experience of these sites. The buildings constructed for the preparations of the expos, together with communication and transport networks greatly change the outlook of the city on global terms. The technology introduced during the preparation and carrying out the expo advances the technology of the city. Money gotten from the expos is also used to develop other economic sectors of the city and government. The latest expo to be held is Expo 2012 in Yeosu, Korea. It commenced on May 12, 2012 and closed on August 12, 2012. It attracted 8.2 million visitors from 103 countries. The theme was The Living Ocean and Coast, which emphasized on climate change and technological advancement. The major features were Big O and Sky Tower. The next expos will be Expo 2015 in Milan, Italy and Expo 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan. Expo 2020 will be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 5. Materials and Methods Both primary and secondary sources will be used for the research. The primary sources will involve carrying out data collection directly from the field. We will design questionnaires that will be sent through email to the intended respondents living in Dubai. The respondents will be involving expo committee and other stakeholders willing to participate in the research. These respondents will then email back the filled out questionnaires. We will analyze these results and present them in graphs and charts for further analysis. The results that cannot be quantified will be given in narratives or tables. This will be the final data that can be used for further research in the same field. The secondary sources of our data will be publications. We will use printed books available in the library that give light on world expositions. In addition, articles from journals and newspapers among other periodicals will be used. These will capture the secondary information about the expos. To complement our secondary sources, we will use online resources. The expo websites like “worldfairs.com” and “expomuseum.com” will serve as good resources for our research. Also, the Expo 2020 website, “expo2020dubai.ae” will be a rich source of information about previous expositions and the Expo 2020 of Dubai. Online eBooks, articles and journals among other e-based resources like blogs will be of great use in our research. These sources will provide an insight on achievements and challenges of previous expos. This insight will help us know which best ways to use so that we can maximize the impact of the Expo 2020 for the development of Dubai and economic blooming. The data will be analyzed and presented in tables. In addition, charts and graphs will be used to present the analyzed data. This will help our audience understand our information better. 6. Timeline The table below shows the research timeline. This is a rough estimate acting as a benchmark although dates might be altered as the research progresses. Date Research Activity Description Jan 13 – Feb 14 2015 Come up with research questions and hypothesis Evaluate the topic of research in relation to: Prior knowledge of the area of research The expected new information about the research topic Major problems or questions to tackle Jan 13 – Feb 14 2015 Prepare research materials Make contacts with willing respondents Prepare questionnaires for the research Send the questionnaires to the respondents Feb 15 – Feb 28 2015 Gather research resources Receive the filled questionnaires Analyze the data from the questionnaire Access secondary data from published sources in the internet and school library Prepare notes on the data March 1 – March 23 2015 Make research conclusions Revise the research Evaluate the major areas Reflect the organization of the research paper March 24 – April 15 2015 Research communication Prepare a written essay of the research Prepare the draft of the report Prepare visual aids for the project Revise the project Add the visual aids Edit the final report Print the report April 16 – April 30 2015 Research presentation Check areas for further improvement in the next research Organize with the tutor for research presentation Present the final research report Table: Capstone Research Timeline References Amburn, B. (2008). The 2008 Global Citie Index. Foreign Policy. Retrieved November 5, 2014 from http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2008/10/15/the_2008_global_cities_index?page=0,0 Bernard, L. (2013). The Cost of Living Rising Rapidly. The National. Retrieved November 7, 2014 from http://www.thenational.ae/business/industry-insights/economics/cost-of-living-in-dubai-rising-rapidly Chapell, U. (2013). Exposition Universelle de 1855. Retrieved November 6, 2014 from http://www.expomuseum.com/1855/ Chapell, U. (2013). The 1851 Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations. Retrieved November 8, 2014 from http://www.expomuseum.com/1851/ DiPaola, A. (2010). Dubai Gets 2% GDP From Oil. Bloomberg. Retrieved November 6, 2014 from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-28/dubai-gets-2-gdp-from-oil-after-diversifying-revenue-prospectus-shows.html Dubai Statistics Centre. (2014). Dubai in Figures. Retrieved November 8, 2014 from http://www.dsc.gov.ae/EN/Pages/DubaiInFigures.aspx Expo 2020 Dubai. (2014). World Expo Legacy: The 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. Retrieved November 7, 2014 from http://expo2020dubai.ae/en/hello_2020/article/world_expo_legacy_the_1962_seattle_worlds_fair Gillian, D. (2011). Abu Dhabi and Dubai Are Best Places to Live in The Middle East, Survey Says. The National. Retrieved November 8, 2014 from http://www.thenational.ae/business/economy/abu-dhabi-and-dubai-are-best-places-to-live-in-the-middle-east-survey-says Gulf Law. (2014). On the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Legal System. Retrieved November 5, 2014 from http://www.gulf-law.com Heller, A. (2014). World's Fairs and the End of Progress: An Insider's View. Retrieved November 6, 2014 from http://www.worldsfairs.com/Worlds_Fairs/Expos_Q%26A.html Helpline Law. (2014). UAE Constitution. Retrieved November 8, 2014 from http://www.helplinelaw.com Helyar,J. (2014). Exhibition Curated. Retrieved November 6, 2014 from http://liblamp.vm.ku.edu/spencer/exhibits/greatexhibition/contents.htm Hodgson, E. (2013). A Look At The Last Five World Expos. Gulf Business. Retrieved November 7, 2014 from http://gulfbusiness.com/2013/11/a-look-at-the-last-five-world-expos/#.VGCdP1PBBVV Kerr, S. (2013). Jubilant Dubai Wins Bid to Host 2020 World. Financial Times. Retrieved November 7, 2014 from http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/648e8632-5781-11e3-b615-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2vJUeWw4E Sampler & Eigner. (2008). Sand to Silicon. UAE: Motivate p.11 World's Fair. (2014). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved November 8, 2014 from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/649088/worlds-fair World Gazetteer. (2014). United Arab Emirates: Metropolitan Areas. Retrieved November 5, 2014 from http://www.world-gazetteer.com Zahlan, R.S. (1978). The Making of Modern Gulf States: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman. New York: Ithica Press. Read More