Meet the world’s first zero-carbon city

A grand concept, designed by Brits Foster + Partners, Masdar City was all set to become another ambitious project abandoned by cash-strapped developers or never even backed in the first place. But Masdar Institute of Science and Technology took up the challenge: the world’s first graduate-level university dedicated to sustainability has 120 students and staff living in the city as they build it.

Photo credit: Tom Olliver

They started in 2010. The city, which is built entirely of “energy-friendly” materials, is designed to run entirely on renewable energy. The metropolis sits on top of “an energy grid which monitors the output of every single switch”, according to BuzzFeed and centres around a giant wind tunnel, which is lined with LED lights that glow blue when the city reaches its goal of using 50 per cent less energy than a comparable settlement.

The city was scheduled to be finished by 2016 with a budget of $20 billion.

That has since been revised to a completion date of 2025. The budget has presumably risen significantly too.

But for now, unless financial crisis strikes or something goes wrong, the world’s first zero-cardboard city is here. Almost. That alone is an inspirational thought for future developments around the world. Even better, it is an inspirational thought that you can touch.