Artist's impression of the Masdar City HQ building
Even among smart communities, the vision for Masdar City was always grand. Rising from the desert sands in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, the $22 billion project was to be the world’s first zero-pollution, zero-waste city.
When complete, the 2.3-square-mile city – actually part of a larger initiative – will be home to some 50,000 people and 1,500 businesses. Progress toward that vision has been slowed and modified by the global financial crisis, but not stopped. The city’s projected completion date is now 2020–2025, pushed back from 2012, with an initial phase slated for completion in 2015. For details about Phase 1 of the initiative, how it ties together renewable energy and “smart grid” projects, and what lessons have been learned so far, Smart+Connected Communities Institute caught up with Masdar City Director Alan Frost.
Alan Frost, director of Masdar City
