Uploaded on 2017-02-28 by Samira Azgua

1. First, identify the most important stocks and flows (at least three) entering, staying in and eventually leaving your area (or city). • Water • Food • People/labor • Finance • land 2. Describe your findings based on the concept of stocks and flows by presenting the necessary information or examples. • I am living in Dubai and definitely one oft he most important stock and flows is labor (people), though we learned, that people don´t fit exactly into a stock an flow system, but I think in Dubai it is formative. Dubai has only around 15% local people living in the area, the other 85% are people coming from other countries to work. Dubai is a kind of „Transit City“ for workers. Lots of people enter the city in order to work and make money but after a few years of working and saving most people go back to their native countries. The average stay of working people is three to five years. So there is a constant stock and a flow of people. • A lot of workers that come from third world countries like India, Pakistan or Philippines send money they earn and save here in Dubai to the families they left back home. This means there is a huge Financial stock and flow system. • Dubai has as well increased its land area. A very famous one is „ The Palm“. An Island built in the sea in the shape of a palm, only a few kilometers from the cost connected by a bridge. On the Palm you will find housing and hotels. More projects are under construction so there is a significant flow of land. • A very big part oft he food, that we consume here in Dubai has to be imported. Due to to the climate conditions (desert), it is hard to produce food inside the country. • Water is a very short good in Dubai, as we have desert climate. Most oft he water we are using is out of the sea and goes through desalination plants. In these plants and later in the water tanks oft he houses will be the water stocks hat of course have to be renewed when the water is used, so this is also a Stock and flow system. 3. Imagine and shortly describe how these stocks and flows could change in the future for the benefit of your area. The flow of people would probably change if the immigrant worker could get some form like a permanent residence. This would give a lot of people that came alone the possibility to settle down in Dubai. If people stay longer time in Dubai it could have a positive impact on the city, people would probably feel more home and therefore care more about the place they live, the surroundings, their neighbors etc. If more people would stay longer and bring their families they would not send that much money into their home countries but spend the earned money in UAE which would be a benefit to the economics. There is some effort to produce and grow more products in the UAE. In the last years several organic farms were opened in and around Dubai, and I think they are successful. Of course the problem with cultivation is the shortage of water, but still I could imagine that there are ways to produce more food in the country which would benefit in several ways from it. On one hand, more jobs will be created on the other hand there will be less pollution because of all the transport and packaging which would be reduced. People will probably get more healthy food.