EcoEDGE2 : Building Sustainable Cities
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 09.25.07
Walled city of Masdar in Abu Dhabi: to become world's first zero-carbon and zero-waste city
EcoEDGE2 is a conference coming to Melbourne, Australia during 14-16 February 2008. We are mentioning it now because early bird registrations close at the end of next month. And you might want to get along to an intriguing forum that addresses “The Urgent Challenge in Building Sustainable Cities.” The plethora of speakers includes experts in a tackling the economic, aesthetic and ethical dimensions in making sustainable cities through green urban design; green urban energy systems; green housing; and green government.
One such speaker is the British based architecture firm, Foster + Partners, who might talk about their plan to help the walled city of Masdar in Abu Dhabi become the world's first zero-carbon and zero-waste city. Norman Foster said “They have provided us with a challenging design brief that promises to question conventional urban wisdom at a fundamental level. Masdar promises to set new benchmarks for the sustainable city of the future.”
There will also be presenters discussing green urban projects from as far and wide as Kenya, Denmark, the Netherlands, China, USA, Australia, Germany and Lebanon. EcoEDGE2 is part of Melbourne’s CityEDGE series, which provide a forum for architects, landscape architects, urban designers and planners to review the rapid and radical development of contemporary metropolises. ::EcoEDGE2, via Dexigner.
interesting how the first 'eco-friendly' city is to be walled off and restricted from general use, isn't it?
Why a big, flat city? Why not one very big building, surrounded by forest? The old way is building out, the new way is building up.
Stacking humans is a far more energy efficient than spreading them out. Think a high-rise vs. suburban sprawl.
As it is now, Masdar looks like sprawl.
There's no forest because this is the desert - huge water resources would need to be shipped in to sustain an environment alien to that climate. Also, building up in a hot climate means additional resources to air conditioning. While the solutions suggested make sense for more moderate climates - definitely inappropriate for Abu Dhabi.