January 22, 2008	Tuesday	Muharram 12, 1429

ABU DHABI: In an expanse of grey rock and dust in one of the harshest environments on earth, the United Arab Emirates is about to build what is being described as the world’s first sustainable city, designed by British architect Lord Foster.

The site is far from promising. Miles from a polluted sea, a fierce sun raises temperatures to 50C in the summer, and there is no fresh water, no soil and no animals. But tens of billions of petro-dollars will be poured into these seven square kilometres of desert on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi.

Called Masdar — “the source” in Arabic — the walled city is intended to house 50,000 people and 1,500 businesses. It will have no cars and be self-sufficient in renewable energy, the majority of which will be solar energy. The formal unveiling of the desert eco-city will be made on Monday at a summit on future energy sources in Abu Dhabi.

The buildings will huddle together as in a casbah, and will be cooled by wind towers which will collect the desert’s breezes and flush out hot air. No building will be more than five storeys high; the city is to be oriented north-east to south-west to give the optimum balance of sunlight and shade.

It will feel closer to many cities built in the age of the cart and horse. Most roads will only be 3 metres wide and just 70 metres long to develop a micro-climate and keep the air moving; roofs will allow in air and keep the sun out in the summer. No one will be more than 200 metres from public transport, and streets will give on to colonnaded squares and fountains.

It is every architect’s dream to build a new city and Foster’s team say they started from scratch. The idea has been to reduce the amount of energy needed to build it and to live there, and then to let solar energy take over. “We will start with a large solar power station which will provide the energy to construct the city. Some 80 per cent of all the roof space will be used to generate solar power, and because we expect technology to improve as we are building it, we hope we will later be able to remove the power plant. We could ‘borrow’ energy from outside, but we are trying to prove it can all be generated in the confines of the site,” said Evenden.

The architects are also planning some hi-tech gadgetry. The 50,000 inhabitants, and everyone who works there, will move around on one of three levels. A light railway will whizz people to and from Masdar to Abu Dhabi’s forest of glass and steel towers; a second level for pedestrians; and a third for “personalised rapid transport pods,” described by Evenden as “little vehicles like driverless personal taxis which run on tracks or magnetic discs in the road. It’s a tried technology. They are in production in Holland,” he said.

—Dawn/Guardian News Service