Masdar, the UAE’s ‘Green City’, Is a Cautionary Tale – It’s Hard To Build a Climate Haven, No Matter How Much Oil Money You Have
A bold, innovative project begun nearly a generation ago to erect a “green city” in the United Arab Emirates has run into realities and largely missed its mark, offering a cautionary tale about the risk of overblown environmental ambitions even for an oil-rich, future-minded sheikhdom.
Now 17 years and billions of dollars in the making, Masdar City next to Abu Dhabi’s airport was first envisioned as a sustainable city of tomorrow with features like no cars, subway “pods” to ferry commuters, and solar-powered buildings rising from the desert sands.
Those things exist, but not nearly to the extent or in the time frame once imagined.
Masdar City has been a pet project of Sultan al-Jaber, the head of the UAE’s national oil company and the president of the ongoing COP28 climate conference in nearby Dubai, who has sought to cast himself as a promoter of renewable energy transition.
It was launched as a $22 billion, state-funded project to create “the world’s most sustainable eco-city,” with designs from the firm of famed British architect Norman Foster. It was expected to cover 6 square kilometres (2.3 square miles) and accommodate 50,000 people.
Setbacks doused early hopes. It was originally set to be completed in 2016, then 2020, and now a target date has been shelved indefinitely.
“There’s no line in the sand that we’re rushing to,” said Chris Wan, associate director for sustainability. “It will develop naturally.”
At first, a global financial crisis slowed building projects.
Then, some technological change arrived fast: electric scooters, bikes, and autonomous vehicles turned out to be more versatile than their track-bound subway pods. Other changes have come too slowly: buildings still require concrete, and manufacturing it generates a lot of carbon.
The result, critics say, has been a “failed city” that’s now more of a research hub and office park—some 1,000 businesses have taken up tenancy—that has overshadowed hopes for a broader mix with more retail, residential areas, and cultural offerings that a truly livable city would offer.
Federico Cugurullo, assistant professor in sustainable urbanism at Trinity College Dublin, has argued the project has been harmed by tensions between environmental and economic concerns, which have dented its ambitions for sustainability.
“It is not a good model for future cities,” he said in an email.
Today, an estimated 15,000 people live and work in Masdar City, but only one-third are residents. The surface area is roughly 3.8 square kilometres (or about 1.5 square miles), though only about one-fourth has been built up so far. It’s under a sixth of the size of the original hopes.
Masdar City’s visionary managers remain unbowed, insisting it’s a work in progress.
