dubai united arab emirates from the front porch of their cinderblock home garry and amanda james gaze over dubais soaring skyscrapers and massive mallsits a skyline that in their young days had seemed impossibly far off outside amandas childhood home in the same spot three decades ago were just miles of empty desertthroughout dubais meteoric rise from tiny pearling town to booming financial hub jebel ali village a collection of cottages built in the late 1970s for european port workers largely stayed the sameits a relic of another time expat residents still amble along quiet windswept roads and play christmas bingo at the clubhousebut now the bulldozers are comingnakheel the stateowned developer of dubais signature palmshaped islands unveiled plans to demolish the neighborhood to make way for a gated community of luxury twostory villas residents found 12month eviction notices stuck to their doorswere just gutted said amanda james 53 whose british father first moved the family to the village in 1984 i arrived here during the iraniraq war i stayed through both gulf wars weve had three generations theres a history of people growing up meeting each other having their families right herein response to a request for comment nakheel said it informed residents of its plans and complied with legal requirementswe recognize jebel ali villages importance to dubais history and its residents and for this reason have taken the decision to redevelop the community to preserve and enhance its longevity for many more generations to come the company said arguing that the planned pools parks sports courts and bike trails would bring residents together in new waysas oil boomed in the 1970s american and european employees of international oil conglomerates lured by generous costofliving allowances descended on the dusty towns of the persian gulf expats settled with their families in wellguarded communities across the region transforming outposts like saudi arabian oil co compounds into meticulously landscaped replicas of california suburbiadubai didnt have much oil but used what it had to build jebel ali the regions first major shipping hub and dry dock dutch and british port workers moved into houses made from concrete breeze blocks as the neighborhood grew a school sprouted up so did horse stables a pool and clubhouse where residents gathered to swap stories over brunches and beersthat sense of community is quite unique to this place said donna dickinson a 40yearold from norfolk england who spent her teenage years in the village and moved back with her family last year to replicate for my children the childhood that i hadresidents recalled the citys rapid changes that climaxed in 2002 when dubais ruler allowed foreigners to buy property in areas of the emirate that unleashed a real estate frenzy fueled by speculatorsextravagant housing developments sprawling golf courses luxury resorts elaborate water parks and gigantic shopping malls crammed into the land around the james home over time the coral stone homes of the emirates rulers along the dubai creek were gutted and leveleda lot of the