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NEWS
Masdar City: Re-inventing the Walled City
August 10, 2009
The world’s first carbon neutral, zero-waste city is now under construction in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Masdar City, as it is known, is the first of its kind in that it is not just a green building being constructed in the middle of an existing place, but an entire city built from scratch that can accommodate 40,000 residents with a commercial and manufacturing sector, entertainment, and its own unique transportation system.
The project is organized by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, and is expected to cost upwards of US $22 billion dollars. Although it will not be complete for a number of years, the first phase is expected to be finished this year and open to residents. Masdar City expects not only to be a model for sustainable living, but an incubator for developing new research and technology in the field. The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) is a new university modeled after the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and will focus on alternative energy, sustainability, and the environment. Students are already expected to start classes in the fall semester of this year.
Designed by the firm Foster + Partners, Masdar City is designed as a dense walled city where cars are banned and virtually all waste is converted back into energy. The exterior walls provide shelter from desert winds, and the narrow walkways and shaded sidewalks create an environment that is pedestrian friendly in the face of intense heat. The city’s design in modern but still modeled after the typical Arabic city. Since cars are banned, city residents will get around in personal rapid transit units, which are reminiscent of small light rail systems. Masdar City will connect to the rest of the region, including the airport, through a monorail system.
All buildings in Masdar City will be energy efficient, and 80% of water within the city limits will be recycled as a way to reduce desalinization, an environmentally costly process. The majority of energy will come from solar panels but wind turbines and other methods will also be incorporated. Project leaders hope that Masdar City will create more energy than it consumes, although with solar technology at its current state it will not produce enough energy to sustain itself at night. As a trade off, Masdar City will import electricity from Abu Dhabi’s gas powered grid at night, and export their solar generated power during the day.
Abu Dhabi, a country rich in oil and centered in an extreme climate, would seem to be the last place that a project like this would spring up. Most projects today in the United Arab Emirates are known for their excess and disregard of sustainability. Masdar City will not change the current trends in the mid-east overnight, but will instead set up a new standard of development for the future. Once completed, Masdar City will be the first zero-emission city in the world, but hopefully not the last.
Article by: Eleni Glekas
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