Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Sometimes it seems like the tiny, oil-rich United Arab Emirates has more money than sense, but with one of the world's highest per capita carbon-emission rates, it's planning to go green in a very big way. First announced in 2006, the government-backed Masdar eco-city, a 1-square-mile virtual postage stamp just outside the capital, Abu Dhabi, aims to be a low-carbon, low-waste oasis powered by the largest solar photovoltaic plant in the Middle East; the city itself will be raised 23 feet to capture desert breezes. Intended to house 40,000 residents and some 50,000 commuters, Masdar has faced setbacks in its scheme to become "The Global Center of Future Energy." Officials pushed the completion date from 2016 to 2025 and slashed the original $22 billion budget by 15 percent amid the financial downturn, forcing some compromises: A plan for electric, driverless cars may be restricted to only part of the city, while sandstorms and high prices could curb the use of solar panels. Masdar's backers aren't abandoning their eco-sanctuary. The site already hosts an MIT-affiliated, graduate-level computer science and engineering institute and aims to be a hub for clean-tech companies. "It is easier to build the perfect city," writes architect Norman Foster, whose firm is designing the project, "if you start with a blank canvas like the desert of Abu Dhabi and have oil money to finance it."
KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images
SUBJECTS:
