Sustainable cities: Masdar City
Explore what it means to be a sustainable city with this lesson on Masdar City in Abu Dhabi.
Students will explore what we mean by social, economic and environmental sustainability before using the video clips and information in this lesson to assess the extent to which Masdar City can be called a 'sustainable city'.
This resource includes a complete PowerPoint lesson and printable worksheet with fill-in-the-blanks activity, note-taking template and factsheet to annotate.
Masdar City
Masdar City is a sustainable development on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi in the UAE.
It is located six kilometres away from Abu Dhabi airport.
Construction began in 2008. It is still not finished, although around 6,000 people currently live there, and many businesses have offices there.
As Masdar is in the desert it needed careful design to keep it cool and ensure that it is energy efficient. The buildings take a lot of inspiration from traditional Arab designs.
Masdar is designed mostly for pedestrians and cyclists, it also has its own transport system called the PRT, but this is limited.
