21st Century (2000–present)

Masdar City Masterplan

2006– · United Arab Emirates · Middle East & Turkey · Ecological, landscape-led, and resilience planning · Planned by Foster + Partners; Abu Dhabi

Foster + Partners' masterplan drawing for Masdar City, Abu Dhabi: the compact walled square city with its fine-grain block structure, perimeter landscape, photovoltaic fields and rail/PRT connections. · © Foster + Partners — used with credit · Foster + Partners, Masdar City masterplan (published by Dezeen, 2007)

Core idea

Car-light, net-zero intent eco-city

Why it matters

Global reference for sustainable urban tech (evolving)

Description

Masdar City near Abu Dhabi (from 2006), master-planned by Foster + Partners, aimed to be a zero-carbon, car-free settlement using traditional shading and wind-tower cooling alongside solar power and a planned personal-rapid-transit system.

Significance

Masdar is the highest-profile experiment in the from-scratch zero-carbon city. Though scaled back from its original ambitions, it remains a key — and cautionary — reference in sustainable city design.

What shaped it

Sustainable development (Brundtland) (1987)
Solar photovoltaics and the LED (silicon PV cell 1954; white LED 1990s)

Plans it influenced

Dholera SIR (2009–)
Konza Technopolis (Kenya) (2012–)

Sources

Open it on the interactive timeline →

hub.toekom.st — History of Urbanism · an interactive timeline of 850 planned cities across 6,000 years.