Then: When Single-Use Plastic Was Simply Part of Life There was a time in Dubai’s recent history when the question of how something was packaged, disposed of, or recycled was barely a question at all. Plastic bags were handed out at supermarket checkouts without a second thought, in quantities that bore no rational relationship to […]

Then: A Working Culture Shaped by Necessity and Endurance In the decades before Dubai became the global city it is today, work was not something that came with boundaries, policies, or flexible arrangements. It was a matter of survival, and the culture that surrounded it reflected that reality with complete honesty. Fishermen rose before dawn […]

Then: When Dubai’s Roads Were Barely Roads at All It is difficult to overstate how primitive the road network of old Dubai truly was. In the 1950s and well into the 1960s, most of what passed for roads in the emirate were nothing more than compacted sand tracks worn into the desert floor by the […]