Dubai: A real city?

I was in a seminar in University of Toronto a few days ago and one of the most famous companies had an introduction of the competition they had participated for a new Iconic building in Dubai.
Dubai in my idea has an eclectic character with no authentic identity or maybe with a new version of identity, because the meaning of words evolve through time. What was called identity 50 years ago may not interests many groups of people anymore.

The palm Jumeirah, a man-made island in Persian Gulf is one of the strangest designs I have ever seen. It may provide a few beaches for a limited number of houses, but any thing that is built on water interrupt the ecosystem of that region. The system has to fight to reach to a new balance. Through this challenge the ecosystem can have a new balance with a new series of creatures but the old creatures will die and may never sustain the new environment. Also the variety of creatures can predominantly decrease.
More than half population of Dubai live in workers’ camp with minimum amenities of life.It's a hub for making money from prostitution. I was wondering a city made out of drudgery can ever become a real city!