The United Arab Emirate’s rapid population growth is coupled with an increase in the consumption of natural resources such as fresh air, sunlight, land, and water. In the past two decades, the demand for land has augmented both away from the coast and significantly near the coast. Within coastal zones, artificial reclamation of land in the sea is the most desirable way to meet the demand for land necessary for the development of the most modern urban areas. Seaward reclamation (land in the water) necessitates the construction of artificially reclaimed areas that are extended into the sea using innovative modern construction techniques. The majority of these building requirements are necessitated by a number of key factors and have diverse outcomes. Even though this type of urban expansion is not new, the scale and motivations of land reclamation have been drastically altered due to geological and human-induced factors. The purpose of this paper is to assess the increase in seaward land expansion, particularly in the seven UAE coastal emirates. Using satellite data, particularly from 1990 to 2021, the total increase in land due to newly developed reclaimed areas in all UAE coastal emirates is calculated. Satellite images from the Landsat series are used to analyze the tremendous growth since the early 2000s. In addition, the study of shoreline maps of 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2021 for the seven emirates revealed that the 22 km long Ajman and UAQ front coast experienced a notable shoreline retreat with a net erosion area of 300 m² and an annual rate of 30 my⁻¹ over the past 21 years (2000–2021). Depending on the type of construction design used to describe the process, a methodical sorting is also recommended. The impacts of the Dubai offshore reclaimed islands on the adjacent coastlines in Ajman and Umm Al Quwain (UAQ), as well as the potential impact of earthquake tremors along the Zagros fold belt region, are the subjects of this study. In this study, all seven coastal emirates are considered, and the largest reclamation projects are located in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ras-Al Khaimah (RAK), and Fujairah, with Dubai leading the way; it has expanded its coastal areas by more than 68 km² at present, and another 35 km² will be reclaimed soon to finish Palm Deira.

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction listed 10 reasons businesses should reduce their disaster exposure, including risk factoring, which cannot be achieved without historical data about hazards, their locations, magnitudes, and frequencies. Substantial hazard data are reported by newspapers, which could add value to disaster management decision making. In this study, a text-mining program extracted keywords related to floods’ geographic location, date, and damages from newspaper analyses of flash floods in Fujairah, UAE, from 2000–2018. The paper describes extracting such information as well as geocoding and validating flood-prone areas generated through geographic information system (GIS) modeling. The generation of flood-prone areas was based on elevation, slope, land use, soil, and geology coupled with topographic wetness index, topographic position index, and curve number. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) produced relative weight for each factor, and GIS map algebra generated flood-prone areas. AHP inclusion helped minimize weight subjectivity among various experts. Of all areas, 85% are considered medium and low flood-prone zones, mainly mountainous areas. However, the 15% that are high/very high are dominated by urban areas in low coastal plains, predisposing them to flash floods. Eighty-four percent of flood events reported by newspapers were in areas rated as high/very high flood-prone zones. In the absence of flood records, newspapers reports can be used as a reference. Policymakers should assess whether flood-prone area models offer accurate analyses. These findings are useful for organizations related to disaster management, urban planning, insurance, archiving, and documentation.

The objective of this article is to investigate the development of Al Ain city, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), between 1976 and 2000, with particular reference to the space–time relationship. Al Ain is the fastest changing city in the Arabian Peninsula. It has gone from a desert oasis to a thriving modern city in just over 30 years. Maps, colour aerial photographs, satellite imagery, Global Positioning System (GPS), and Geographical Information System (GIS) were used as an aid for understanding the development of the city. Change and development in the city is evident from comparison of old maps, aerial photographs, and satellite imagery taken during 1976, 1978, 1984, 1994, 1998 and 2000. The city was found to have a tendency for major expansion in the direction of the west and south-west. Expansion in any direction was found to be governed by the availability of utilities (water, electricity), economic activities along roads (agriculture, industry), geographical constraints (valleys, sand dunes, mountains), and legal factors (boundary with Sultanate of Oman, planning and institutional rules). Many cities around the world are developed at the cost of agricultural areas, which are the main source of food. For example, in Tempe, Arizona between 1970 and 1979 and in Cairo. However, in Al Ain the research concludes that the development is based on conservation of agricultural areas (oases) and reclamation of the desert. Revenue from oil is a significant drive for this development, but even more important is the determination of the UAE government to proceed with the development.