The Masdar Initiative is”a global cooperative platform for open engagement in the search for solutions to some of mankind’s most pressing issues: energy security, climate change and truly sustainable human development.” The city itself will be formed inside of a 6×6km2 square-shaped floor plan and will provide homes for some 50.000 people. The city will be zero-waste, zero-carbon and car-free, cooling: concentrated solar power, electricity: photovoltaic (solar) panels and water: solar-powered desalination plant.
This depends on whether Masdar is part of a genuine national devocalization strategy or a one-off green billboard at the airport. When the oil is ‘gone’, what will Masdar produce that can justify the bloated population in the desert metropolis? These questions are not really being addressed - but to me this vision would be more interesting than Masdar as the solar mall it is presented as. What effort avoidance and technology substitution strategy can be used? What are the structural shifts prepared? It is possible and even likely that the planning team has developed these concepts, but visible in the promo material is only a limited and expensive piece of hardware.
No comments:
Post a Comment