Masdar is a sustainable city being built in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is a model for sustainable urban development, providing a high quality living and working environment with the lowest possible ecological footprint. Everything has been engineered for high function, low-consumption performance.
Sustainable Urban Development
Sustainable urban planning and development is an extremely important part of the global response to climate change; it is required because over half of the world’s population lives in cities, which are responsible for more than 70% of global carbon dioxide emissions.
The aim of Masdar City is to build one of the most sustainable cities in the world in a commercially viable way, while ensuring it is an attractive place to live. Building sustainability in a ‘commercially viable way’ is important if other cities are going to catch on and implement similar technologies and systems.
The essential factors that were considered for Masdar, and those that need to be considered for other sustainable urban developments, are shown below:
The Masdar City Master Plan
The design of Masdar is extremely complex and I will outline only some of the key concepts.
Masdar City was designed by Foster + Partners, a high profile architectural firm. The project blends high-tech design with the architecture and urban planning of traditional Arab cities.
Norman Foster, the founder and chairman of the firm, started with an in-depth study of old Arab settlements in order to understand how these communities coped with living in a region where the air can feel as hot as 150 degrees.
His research concluded that:
- Settlements were often built on high ground to take advantage of the stronger winds.
- Tall, hollow ‘wind towers’ were used to funnel cool air down to street level.
- Streets were narrow to accelerate airflow and built at an angle to maximise shade.
With this in mind, Masdar City is designed to be a perfect square, approximately one mile on each side and raised on a 23 foot high base to capture the desert breezes. It will have narrow streets, designed to maximise the shading of windows and walkways, and will also use wind towers to cool the streets. It is believed that by combining these approaches, Masdar City could feel roughly 70 degrees cooler, which would cut the amount of electricity used to run the city by half. 90% of the power used will be solar, while the rest is expected to be generated by incinerating waste – producing much less carbon than if it were sent straight to landfill.
Artist impression – Aerial view of Masdar City.
Wind tower used to funnel cool air down to street level.
However, of greater interest is how Masdar City is going to deal with transport, and in particular, what they will do with the car. Traditional cars are banned from entering Masdar, being replaced with a network of driverless electric cars that will operate underneath the city. A user will be able to step into a car, choose a destination within the city on an LCD screen and the car will then automatically pull out onto the road, silently, and drive itself!
When reaching their destination, users will be encouraged to use the stairs (as elevators are located discreetly out of sight) to get to the breezy streets of Masdar, where the only way to get around is on foot.
Driverless electric car station, located underneath the streets of Masdar.
Residential buildings are specifically designed to block direct sunlight from entering the rooms and so that the interiors aren’t visible from the outside. They are also designed so that views to the outside are angled, so that you can’t look directly into the windows of facing buildings.
Typical exterior of buildings in Masdar City.
Finally, the perimeter of the city will be camouflaged by an array of vegetation and almost all of the heavy-duty service functions (such as a 54-acre photovoltaic field, incineration plant and water treatment plant) will be located outside the city.
Too Good to be True?
Every aspect of Masdar City has been designed to be as sustainable as possible, with the overall aim of being a ‘carbon-neutral’ city. However, there are a few concerns over whether this is possible. For example, where will food come from? Will it be imported, carrying a high carbon footprint, or will it be grown locally? Additionally, if it is carbon-neutral, does this include the carbon footprint of construction?
Furthermore, critics suggest that the design of Masdar City reflects the gated-community mentality that has been spreading around the world in recent decades, believing that this community will be completely cut off from the rest of the world.
With these issues in mind, I still believe that the design and implementation of Masdar City is both exceptional and inspiring, and I hope people open their eyes to this feat of technological brilliance!
References:
All material was taken from the Masdar City website:
Please refer to this website for more information on how sustainable practices were implemented into the design of Masdar
