What is an eco-city?
The term ‘eco-city’ is a relatively new idea however its concept has existed for a very long time (Roseland, 1997). In 1987 the Brundtland commission defined sustainable development as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (WCED,1987) and these eco-cities can help towards a sustainable future. In simple terms an eco-city is an ecologically healthy city which incorporates a number of factors (Ecocity builders, 2014);
-An ecologically healthy human settlement modelled on the self-sustaining resilient structure and function of natural ecosystems and living organisms
-An entity that includes its inhabitants and their ecological impacts
- A sub system of the regional, national and world economic system
Case study
Perhaps one of the most avowedly experimental responses taken place on an urban scale in response to climate change are new low carbon cities including that of Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates whereby in 2008 the city embarked on a journey to become the world’s most sustainable city (Bulkeley et al., 2011; Madsar,2012). The city has now started a process of ‘transforming oil wealth into renewable energy leadership’ and has set long term goals of a transition from a 20th century carbon based economy into a 21st century sustainable economy (Reiche,2010). Described as a living laboratory, Masdar City is designed to capture the lessons of developing new technologies and ways of real living time. On one hand the city itself is characterised by a test bed for a carbon free-lifestyle however the city, developed by the UAE provides space to exploit and develop the clean technology sector (Bulkeley et al., 2011).
Some of the major developments of Masdar City includes the Masdar Clean Energy projects; the concentrated solar project which include Masdar City’s 1 MW rooftop installations has been one movement towards sustainability. Further plans include a 100MW photovoltaic plant as well as carbon sequestration and carbon capture projects (Masdar,2012). However Masdar City is not only focused on sustainability in the region, internationally Masdar Clean energy has developed wind farms in the Seychelles as well as renewable projects in Tonga and Afghanistan (Masdar,2012).
However even though eco-cities seem viable in a world increasingly concerned with global warming actual implementation can be hard to obtain and poses a lot of obstacles with regards to social and economic costs making these cities not as appealing as first thought.
References
Bulkeley,H., Broto,V.,Hodson,M.,Marvin,S.,2011. Cities and the Low carbon Transition. The European Financial Review.
Ecocity builders, 2014. Ecocity definition. (online) Available at: http://www.ecocitybuilders.org/why-ecocities/the-solution/ecocity-definition/. Accessed on 26th May 2014.
Masdar,2012. Masdar City. (online) Available at: http://www.masdar.ae/en/city/detail/one-of-the-worlds-most-sustainable-communities-masdar-city-is-an-emerging-g. Accessed on 26th May 2014.
Reiche,D.,2010. Renewable Energy Policies in the Gulf countries: A case study of the carbon-neutral ‘Masdar City’ in Abu Dhabi. Energy policy. Vol 38 (1) p378-382.
Roseland,M.,1997. Dimensions of the eco-city. Cities. Vol 14 (4) p197-202.
WCED,1987. Our common future. Oxford university Press, New York.
