Masdar City – CO2 Free Living in the Desert? André Müller
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Informationen zur Raumentwicklung Heft 5/6.2012 287 Thomas Marshall Masdar City – CO2 free living in the desert? André Müller 1 The city as a project Masdar City closes every day at 17.00 h – welcome to a gated and wirelessly connect- ed community of some workers and a few (student) residents next to Abu Dhabi Inter- national Airport, staircases will guide you to the second floor where you may find the city! What sounds like a staircase wit, is reality. The city is a project1 and it is managed as such: “Masdar is a new kind of energy company that takes a holistic approach to renewable energy and clean technology. A commercial enterprise, Masdar operates through five integrated units, including an Aerial view of Masdar City independent graduate research university, and seeks to become a leader in making re- newable energy a real, viable business and Abu Dhabi a global centre of excellence in the renewable energy and clean technology category” (Masdar City 2011a: 17). The proj- ect is entirely state-owned by the Mubadala Development Company2 and constitutes one of the ten pillars of this enterprise3. Masdar – which holds Masdar City – is part of its energy sector’s assets. Mubadala, in Arabic, means change – what a choice for a name! The project and the city as such were set up as a special economic zone in the Emirate The walled Masdar City overarched by cranes of Abu Dhabi.4 This underlines its charac- Photos: T. Marshall/A. Müller 2011 ter as a commercial product rather than a city in its traditional meaning. This entre- Community Development initiated in 2009 preneurial context offers for those intend- the World Innovation Summit for Education ing to become part of the project a “quick (WISE) (cf. Qatar Foundation for Education, and easy set-up with (a) one-stop shop for Science and Community Development), in- registration, government relations and visa tending to influence the regional mind set- processing, 100 % foreign ownership, zero ting of diversifying economic activities and percent import tariffs, zero percent taxes on thus creating varied pillars of societal devel- companies and individuals, no restrictions opment. on capital movements or profits” (Masdar Building a city as a project definitely re- City 2011a: 31). quires technical approaches and solutions, Thomas Marshall E-Mail: Change stands in a country like the United especially when a so called CO2 free city is Arab Emirates (UAE), a federation of seven to be implemented. Yet, a city is supposed [email protected] emirates of which the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to be more than the composition of techni- André Müller can be considered as primus inter pares, as cal elements. It is the social aspect that very Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- a new perspective in further development. much determines a city to be the physical und Raumforschung (BBSR) The idea of setting future priorities in edu- place where people live and interact with im Bundesamt für Bauwesen cation rather than exploiting obviously lim- each other. But, where is the human aspect und Raumordnung Deichmanns Aue 31–37 ited oil resources has gained power in the in this technocratic and entrepreneurial 53179 Bonn Middle East Region. In that respect, the Qa- world of Masdar City – a desert outskirt part E-Mail: tar Foundation for Education, Science and of the city of Abu Dhabi? [email protected] 288 Thomas Marshall, André Müller: Masdar City – CO2 free living in the desert? or Burj Khalifa in the neighbouring Emir- ate of Dubai were showcase models of this economic success and sought to confirm the UAE’s “being on the map”. The financial crisis which started in 2007 hit particularly hard development and building projects, bringing many to a halt. The ambitions pre- sented in these documents must therefore be taken as having been established in a specifically optimistic and confident vision of the future. Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 Abu Dhabi grew to become the modern city “Masdarians” gathering at the main square it is today through the “kick-start” impulse Photo: T. Marshall/A. Müller 2011 given by the discovery of oil and its subse- Figure 1 quent exploitation in the 1960s. When the Masdar City Facts Abu Dhabi Economic Vision for 2030 was drafted in 2005, the oil industry represent- Masdar City Facts ed approximately 60 % of the national GDP. This figure is expected to be almost halved, down to 36 % by 2030. $$$ Area of development: This ambition is to be achieved through a Approximately 7 square km Renewable Active substantial diversification of economic ac- City Footprint: Energy Systems 50 % of total site area tivities in Abu Dhabi in a context of contin- Population density: Efcient Envelope uous economic development. This diversi- 140 people/hectar & Systems, Building Building heights: Smart Building Optimisation fication will ensure the emirate‘s economic Average height: 4–6 storeys Management Maximum height: 40 metres foundations, making its economy more du- Street width: Ventilaton rable as less reliant on the finite extraction Central Spine: 25 metres Orientation Form & Orientation Form main Streets maximum: 14 metres $ of oil. Furthermore, plans for developing Secondary streets: 8.5 metres Abu Dhabi‘s sustainable economic founda- Environmental Gain tions will also include a balanced social and Source: Masdar City 2011 regional development, ensuring a spread- out distribution of wealth. To this extent, sustainability in an eco- 2 Masdar City as part of a broader nomic understanding is the strive to ensure (inter)national context durability in the structure and positioning of economic activities. This goal has been To understand the establishment of Masdar established knowing that the formidable City as a long-term investment project for economic input which has been oil is not Abu Dhabi, it is interesting to contextualise meant to last and that its impact on the it in decision-takers’ plans. This will allow economic structure of the emirate is also for a better understanding of the origins the source of an imbalance and therefore and aspirations of this project. These plans, associated volatility and insecurity. both established around the mid-2000’s and In establishing its economic vision for 2030, running until 2030, follow Sheikh Zayed bin it is interesting to note that the authors of Sultan Al Nahyan’s vision “for Abu Dhabi to the plan took into account other coun- continue to create a confident, secure so- tries to which Abu Dhabi should not only ciety and to build a sustainable, open and be compared to, but even “benchmarked” globally competitive economy” (UPC n.d.). (The Government of Abu Dhabi 2008: 9). These plans however were established dur- These countries include Norway which has ing a particularly prosperous period for the put into good use a comparable oil and gas region, notably through its real estate mar- output to diversify its economy, Ireland for ket. Superlative projects such as The World the development of a knowledge-based Informationen zur Raumentwicklung Heft 5/6.2012 289 economy, New-Zealand as it has come to Figure 2 rely on a relatively large export base and Framework for the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 Singapore as a successful example of a transformation economy. Such compari- Framework for the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 sons are good hints to the aspirations of Abu Dhabi‘s political and economic leaders. Economic Development Policy & Regulatory Strategy Enablers Masdar City is supposed to be a pillar of the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 (cf. Mas- Sectors Business Environment Which sectors will be the dar City 2011a). In Arabic, “masdar” means engines for future growth? source or root which may be interpreted as Fiscal Policy a source for new techniques in renewable engineering, a new city rooting or simply Monetary Policy Competitiveness the water source that we are familiar with when thinking of an oasis in the desert ...? Abu Dhabi Labour Policy Economic Abu Dhabi 2030 Urban Structure Vision 2030 Enterprises Framework Plan Who will drive growth? Enablers The Abu Dhabi 2030 Urban Structure Resource Enablers Framework Plan is the second main public Infrastructure and policy document produced by the govern- Services Development ment of Abu Dhabi in recent years. It pro- Human Resource Socio-economic Distribution vides an overview of the urban structure Development What is the regional and/or and a development pattern in accordance social group focus? Financial Capital to forthcoming economic and social evolu- Development tions. It also provides an institutional and regulatory framework. The notion of “sustainability” induced in this document is overall much different Source: The Government of Abu Dhabi, 2008 to that given by the Economic Vision and leans more to the environmental connota- tion generally assumed. For example, an overarching theme in this document is the reduction of the importance of automobile share in future urban developments. This of Abu Dhabi as leader of the integration issue is addressed not only in terms of pre- of fellow emirates into the creation of the cise planning operations (developing pub- UAE as a country, Emiratis have sought to lic transport system, fostering densification defend and nurture their cultural heritage. of existing urban forms, etc), but also as a This is for example the case in the plans for general trend to move towards. the monumental and iconic Zayed National Museum to be developed in Saadiyat Island However, several outstanding key points in (cf. below) which will be dedicated to the this document might challenge the notion different aspects of heritage and culture of sustainability beyond its environmental in the UAE, as well as to Sheikh Zayed bin aspect. The Plan Abu Dhabi 2030 document Sultan Al Nahyan (1918–2004), the “father introduces for example the need for specifi- of the nation”.