The World’s First Eco-City of the Future – Masdar City
Our polluted ecosystem can no longer cope with all of its natural mechanisms on its own, and this is the fault of human actions. Or the influence we unknowingly have on it.
This article presents one way to properly influence the planet’s ecosystem. An example of the correct use of human power, knowledge and deeds. An example for all cities on the planet and the very first green city in the world, which will operate a zero-carbon, solely on alternative energy sources. And while some cities are destroying the planet’s natural exoskeleton with their usual, for humanity, actions, Masdar city plans to become the main protagonist in the battle for a green bright future.
About Masdar city, alternative energy sources, the privileges and even the disadvantages of a utopian clean city, which may remain only a green project of the future. Why is this the case and is it possible to avoid it?
What is Masdar City?
Masdar City is the world’s first zero-carbon green city project being developed in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The city, which will run entirely on solar power and other renewable energy sources, will be the very first example of an eco-city in the world, and an example for the hundreds of ideas already planned that will only begin construction work when it is completed by 2025.
With the growing demand for innovative technology, comfort and luxury, ecosystem pollution has become a completely irrelevant guest in the world of the future, along with sprawling technological advances in the wrong area.
In today’s world, it is almost impossible to imagine a place free of pollution. The city of Masdar has the determination and courage to stop this unwelcome guest.
How does it work?
Masdar City is a planned zero-carbon project in Abu Dhabi. It is being built by Masdar, which is a subordinate of the Mubadala Development Company. The city is being designed by the British architectural firm Foster and Partners. The project began in 2006, with the aim of completing the first phase by 2009, but was delayed until 2015 due to the global financial crisis and the full construction process has now lasted more than 12 years.
The budget that has been allocated to build the world’s first eco-city is $20 million. It is designed to accommodate about 50,000 people and 1,500 business centers in six square kilometers of land that is near the Abu Dhabi metropolitan area. The architects designed the city keeping in mind comfort and ease for pedestrians and cyclists. The city’s navigation system, in layman’s circles, can be understood as the flow of passengers that progresses through the city and develops along End Point and City ID.
Masdar’s developers took an unusual and utterly remarkable engineering route, keeping the city permanently cool despite the project’s location in a desert hot area. They built a tall 46-meter wind tower that sucks in cool air from above and releases it onto the city’s streets, thus maintaining a temperature of around 15-20 °c even in the hot desert climate of Abu Dhabi. The city is designed and built slightly above the ground, in order to keep the temperature lower than it is outside. In addition, the houses are built very close together, which helps reduce the amount of sunlight coming in from the street.
Masdar city is surrounded by terracotta walls that insulate the city from the hot winds and sands of the surrounding desert.
Foster + Partners designed a car-free cityscape, with Jetson-style unmanned electric vehicles that carry passengers between buildings, incorporating built-in shades and equipped with smart technology to withstand the scorching heat of the desert and reduce cooling costs.
However, twelve years later, only the first phase has been built and it is less than 5% of the original six square kilometers of green oasis in the desert. The completion date has been postponed again to 2030.
The core of Masdar City is on site, in the middle of the large square building that is the Siemens Middle East headquarters. A 46-foot Teflon-coated wind tower helps cool cool breezes along the shady street, complete with a grocery store, bank, post office, canteen and several coffee shops.
The six-story headquarters uses only one-third the energy of comparable office buildings in Abu Dhabi — thanks to sealed insulation and high-efficiency elevators. The design rejected above-ground lights to bring the benefit of natural light into the space, which is just as important for the rooftop solar water heaters.
Only 300 residents live in Masdar city: these are graduate students from the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, who receive free tuition and accommodation.
The pioneering autonomous transportation system, which was originally supposed to stretch to 100 stations, was eliminated after the first two stops.
