Green utopia: World’s first clean-tech city takes shape

Designed by Foster+Partners, Masdar City is the world’s most ambitious experiment in high-tech environmental technology.

The city uses driverless electric cars and its streets are air conditioned by a wind tower that broadcasts the city’s energy consumption on a giant LED meter. A system dubbed the ‘green policeman’ monitors the use of energy, turning off appliances that have been left on by residents.

It includes the Masdar Institute, an offshoot campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Phase two is due to be finished this year which will see 222 more apartments and additional streets and shops being created. The city is forecast to be completed between 2021 and 2025.