The Transformation of Dubai Creek into Infrastructure [Environment in Context]

Huma Gupta speaks with Todd Reisz about the transformation of the marshy estuary known as Dubai Creek (خور دبي‎) into infrastructure – a process which was central to the city’s architectural and urban development projects in the twentieth century. Reisz discusses the spatial, architectural, ecological and economic relationships between the creek, its inhabitants, and the city. These relationships were forever transformed in the mid-twentieth century through the 1955 Halcrow Plan for Dubai Creek and John Harris' 1959 Master Plan for Dubai, which necessitated the use of concrete and steel to harden the creek's fluid landscape in order to engender an expectation of predictability, economic growth, and real estate speculation.