Masdar City: Zero Carbon, Zero Waste in Abu Dhabi

I hesitate to post this because I'm not sure what relevance it has to us here in the U.S., but I think it's worthy of consideration purely for getting ideas as to what we can do going forward.  Foster + Partners created a masterplan for a 6 million square meter sustainable development near Abu Dhabi called Masdar.  Driven by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, Masdar will be a zero carbon, zero waste community, one that will be entirely car free.  Actually, it will be the first in the world, if things go according to plans.  Within the walls of the city will be a new university, Future Energy Company's HQs, an Innovation Center, and special economic zones.  The mixed-use, high-density city aims to be a center for new ideas on producing energy.  With narrow walkways and shaded streets, occupants will be able to access transportation nodes with relative ease.  And because the city is tight sans sprawl, the surrounding land will be used for wind + solar farms and research fields. 

Personally, I like the city as a means to generate new ideas and test modern methods of land planning, but I'm not sure how easy it will be to transplant its findings.  Here in the U.S., when was the last time we just up and created a new city?  It doesn't happen that way.  Why?  Maybe because it takes a lot of money to build an entire city from scratch all up front.  They do it in China.  Matter of fact, they're doing something similar in Dongtan.  But in the U.S., we have a system of private development and ownership that makes this kind of development seem like a fairy tale.  That said, we can learn from it and figure out ways to make our current cities zero carbon + zero waste.  We can learn to incentivize compact development, as opposed to sprawl.  We can learn to use modern forms of transportation sans automobiles.  What's undeniable is the Star Wars-esque feel from the images, right?  Quite dark.  More images below the fold. 

Good Links:
+World's First 0 Carbon, 0 Waste City in Abu Dhabi [Foster + Partners]
+The Walled City of Masdar [WAN]
+Foster's Green Utopian Desert [architecture.mnp]

Comments

[Frederick Brummer]

I bet if a big developer proposed a planned e-city like this, even in the states, there would be TONS of people lining up to invest in it. The management of the city would be a challenge, but I'm sure there'd be interest from universities and industry as well as independant home-owners ...

Funny about the Star Wars look. Its squareness struck me as odd, probably because I've always imagined a planned, car-less community to be based on concentric circles...

I'd love to go on a field-trip there when it's done. I wonder if it'll just seem like a huge mall.

[Portable Air Conditioner system]

So it does. I literally need to clean my glasses.

No cars within the city, I'd believe, since it's only 6 square km. Presumably it'll still be supplied by big-ass diesel trucks like the rest of the world. The cars on top look like little in-city monorails. And everyone knows monorails = teh future.

I'm not buying the no emissions either. And how are they going to have different laws (taxes, IP, transparency) from that of the surrounding Emirate? For strictly internal things, maybe -- like a homeowner's association -- but otherwise?