Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
around the city are planned to produce another 20 MW. A future geothermal de-
velopment is also planned. Water needs, so crucial in a desert environment, will be
provided by a desalinization plant. However conservation measures mean the town
will need 60 % less water than equivalent settlements in the area, with 80 % of the
water being re-cycled at least once and with the grey-water outflows being used
in local irrigation schemes. All the wood used in exteriors will come from a hard-
wood developed from old palm trees; biological waste will be processed to act as a
fertiliser or for biogas to fuel transit and local domestic needs; and all plastics and
metals will be recycled. Economically, the town is to be based on research organiza-
tions and clean energy enterprises, including the headquarters of the International
Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), essentially a knowledge-based venture. In
addition the settlement will be an economic free zone, allowing businesses to have
100 % foreign ownership.
The huge advantage of this development is the financial support of the extremely
rich Abu Dhabi state, whose wealth comes from its massive local oil and gas re-
sources. Perhaps it is ironic that it is the wealth from the polluting sources of fos-
sil fuels that is financing the development of a settlement will have an economy
and energy supplies based on renewable sources. So the real 'source' of its growth
comes from the wealth derived from the world's mid and late twentieth century
fossil economy boom and new interest in green technologies and policies. This
reverses the idea of many of its principles being derived from the older Arabic and
Persian urban planning practices designed to overcome the local climate problems
of heat and aridity, although supplemented by contemporary technology. The origi-
nally of the project has led the World WildLife Fund to designate the town as an
example of a 'One Planet Living Community'. However, it must be emphasized
that Masdar is not really an independent town; it is embedded in the urbanized
region of Abu Dhabi and close to its airport. Also, in social terms there is a danger
is that the development will become an enclave of the technical and wealthy, not a
cross-section of the population of the region; the service workers will probably live
in the cheaper, adjacent traditional urban areas. Moreover, despite the promise of
this design, few countries seem able to match the funds available for such a project
in gas-rich Abu Dhabi. Without a major transformation in government thinking and
finance in other countries of the world, such complete eco-town examples will re-
main rare exceptions in national urban systems. Yet it is to be hoped that more and
more of the sustainable principles being implemented in Masdar will be incorpo-
rated in additions to existing settlements and retrofitted into older areas throughout
the world. The technology is known; the will and the means are lacking
If these issues are given more attention greater progress towards a more sustain-
able future in our urban settlements may be achieved. Yet a note of caution must be
added. Given the scale of the inputs demanded by cities and the waste and pollution
they generate, it is difficult to conceive of urban settlements being fully sustain-
able, with covered domes producing all the crops needed, although the small Eden
project in Cornwall, with its two covered domes of 5.5 acres, one housing a tropical
area and another a Mediterranean plant habitat, show its feasibility, albeit at major
expense (EDP). However, there is little doubt that if the examples of sustainable
practices already shown to be effective and efficient in many cities were copied by
