Masdar City in Abu Dhabi has been heralded as the world's first zero waste, zero carbon city. Lord Norman Foster, founder and chairman of Foster + Partners, explains how these elements were integral to the sustainability of his masterplan for the development.
Like many Middle Eastern states, Abu Dhabi built its modern economy on oil production. However, the Masdar Initiative is unique in the region in recognising that we must develop alternative energy models if we are to reduce the environmental impact of our contemporary lifestyles and live within a wholly sustainable framework.
Masdar has far reaching significance in global terms, in that it tackles design in a holistic sense. It is not specific in terms of individual buildings, important though they may be. Instead it looks at the bigger picture. Architecture comes down to buildings, and urban planning comes down to infrastructure. Those two elements are normally considered separately, but Masdar brings them together as its central thesis - and you can only do that at the level of community planning. That is what makes Masdar so critically important and progressive in a global context.
Urbanisation
Another way of describing this process is ‘urbanisation'. If we look at what urbanisation really means, in an industrialised society, and look at energy consumption, you find that transport represents some 35% of the total and buildings 44%. There is a critical interaction between the two in design terms. As we look at global population and its redistribution, it is also important to note that that process of urbanisation is changing rapidly.
Today, more people live in cities than in the whole history of civilisation and that pattern is accelerating. It was not that long ago, in 1939, that London was the most populous city in the world, with a population of 8.6m, but it has been overtaken by a number of mega-cities around the world, with populations in excess of 15m. That raises questions: what are the models for these new cities and how do we adapt existing communities to accommodate rising populations?
First, as an optimist, I would say that to believe in a sustainable future is to trust that it will result in a better world. The city of the future has to be more attractive place in which to live and work. If Masdar or any sustainable initiative does not result in a great place to be, if it isn't a city that you really want to live in or visit, if it does not lift the spirits, then it is not fulfilling a central part of its function.
Second, to be sustainable, we have to build for the long term. Flexibility is a key consideration. Masdar will be finished in 2018, so it has to be able to respond to new technologies that will have an impact on the way we live in the next 10 years and beyond - things which have yet to be invented and that we can only dream about now.
Density
There is a crucial relationship in urban terms between energy consumption and density. The lowest density cities, those that sprawl, are huge per capita energy consumers. At the other end of the scale, very high density cities have low levels of energy consumption. Somewhere in the middle there is an interesting balance - a city that is high density, economical and civilised. That city has a mixture of uses; it is socially diverse; people live and work in the same environment; it is well served by public transport and the pedestrian experience is enjoyable.
Such cities - Zurich, Geneva, Copenhagen - become destinations or tourist attractions. In any quality-of-life survey they come out on top. Interestingly, Hong Kong, one of the highest density cities, has the greatest life expectancy of any city. If you look at densities you find that Monaco has just over 16,000 people per sq km; Hong Kong has 17,000. The most desirable areas of London - Mayfair, Chelsea, Knightsbridge - are of remarkably similar densities.
The ambition of Masdar is to create a high-density, welcoming, enjoyable community that is also carbon neutral and produces zero waste. To do that in any climate, in any country in the world would be a challenge. In a desert environment it is especially demanding - I have likened this to the challenge in the past of putting a man on the moon.
Masdar covers a site of 580ha, will have a population of 90,000, and be constructed in several phases over the next 10 years. The starting point was to look at traditional Arab settlements, which invariably are quite compact and oriented so that the buildings provide shade and channel cooling air currents. The way in which shading can be used, and the quality of the public spaces, is obviously a fundamental design decision and has a significant impact on energy consumption.
Renewables
The land immediately surrounding the city will be used to ‘farm' renewable energy for use by the community and this organisation will produce a carbon-neutral balance over the year. The city relies on a range of renewable energy strategies, including the extensive use of photovoltaic technology, both to provide power during the construction phase and over the city's lifetime.
Every roof and shading element will be fitted with photovoltaic panels to harvest energy and those will be capable of retrofitting and change over time, just as the avionics in an aircraft can be changed, even though the air frame remains the same.
Evacuated thermal tubes will be integrated into buildings to provide hot water; and the feasibility of a deep geothermal ‘hot rock' borehole is being evaluated to provide a constant source of high-temperature water or steam to drive a system that will provide 24-hour cooling.
Throughout the city, waste streams will be segregated and recycled. Applicable waste streams will be composted and the product used to fertilise the surrounding plantations. The remaining waste will be employed in a waste-to-energy plant to provide supplementary power. The plantations that edge the city also form a landscape barrier which provides a natural filter against sand storms, which occur frequently in the region.
Interestingly in terms of its scale and density, Masdar is comparable with Venice, which is also a car-free city. In Masdar the car and all carbon-based transport is left at the city boundaries; within it you travel by elevated light railway or use one of the specially designed personal rapid transport (PRT) vehicles, powered by photovoltaic installations.
Shifting focus yet further, what makes Masdar especially significant is the fact that it offers a blueprint for the sustainable 21st century city, not just in Abu Dhabi or the Middle East but worldwide. Crucially, its design springs from the recognition that to survive, we have to change, and that with change can come a better way of life.
Imagine such a city in an American, European or Far Eastern context and while it might be physically different its underlying philosophy would be the same. It is a classic example of the need to think globally and act locally; and never has that imperative been more appropriate than today.
Lord Norman Foster
Foster + Partners
From a speech to the World Future Energy summit, reproduced with kind permission from Foster + Partners.
