In the middle of the desert, 11 miles outside of the city of Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, a city of the future is being built. With funding coming directly from Abu Dhabi – one of the wealthiest cities in the world – and a design team hand picked from some of the best in the world – this city is being designed to be a leader in the race to living more sustainably on a planet whose capacity we have already pushed too far.
The city is called “Masdar”, which means “Source” in Arabic. The design team is comprised of firms and institutions from all over the globe – representing an international collaboration. The British architectural firm Foster and Partners are responsible for much of the design. The engineering is being managed by the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology with the aid of consultancy group Mott MacDonald and the Massachusetts Institute of Science and Technology (MIT). The city is being designed to rely entirely on solar energy and renewable sources with a zero waste ecology. Solar, wind, geothermal and hydrogen energy will be used to generate the power needed to run the city. Individual cars will be banned and transport will be supplied through solar powered communal transport systems. A solar powered desalination plant will be used to provide the city’s water needs. All plastics and non-organic waste will be recycled and re-purposed. 80% of the waste water will be reused as grey water. The wood used in some of the building projects is palmwood – considered one of the most sustainable wood sources available.
Construction on Masdar city began in 2008. The projected completion date was slated for 2016, but since construction began the same year as the global financial crisis there was an impact on construction plans and the projected completion date is now between 2020 and 2025 – And, while the initial plan was to create a zero-carbon city the city is now aiming to be low carbon.