Through the practical experience that Masdar City has gained in leading the way as a sustainable urban community, what steps can other organisations take to reduce their carbon footprint?

Masdar City has developed a distinct methodology for designing and developing the most sustainable, energy-efficient buildings on the market in a way that is commercially viable. Our goal is to help other cities become more sustainable, so we regularly share knowledge on that methodology. One thing we often say, though, is that regardless of how efficient a building is designed to be, results depend on the occupants. There is a lot organisations can do to make their operations more sustainable. For example, they can adopt waste segregation and management systems. They can also reduce the use of disposable food and drink dishes for employees. Masdar City provides reusable glass water bottles and porcelain tea and coffee cups to reduce single-use paper and plastic. They can also ensure buildings are monitored and maintained well to ensure optimal efficiency. Organisations should also consider transportation: Is it easy for employees to carpool, walk, take public transportation to work? Are there charging stations available to help encourage EV adoption? Masdar City has been designed for all of the above.

How does Masdar City combine traditional architectural techniques and advanced technology to transform the way people live, work and play?

The single biggest use of energy in the UAE is cooling. At Masdar City, we believe the most sustainable energy is the energy we don’t use—and so we use passive and traditional architectural techniques and advanced technologies to keep buildings cooler and reduce the demand for energy by 40 to 50%. Passive design uses a building’s physical components and the natural environment to improve energy efficiency. We use airtight building envelopes and high-performance insulation to keep hot air out and cool air in. We also think about the window-to-façade ratio, because windows that face direct sun let in a lot of heat. Technology also plays a role: We use high-efficiency air conditioning systems and a district cooling system, and we’re constantly monitoring our buildings to see where we can make things more efficient. 

Of course, a city is so much more than a collection of buildings: At Masdar City, we also encourage sustainable working and living by the way we’ve designed the outside. Taking inspiration from ancient Arab architecture, we’ve designed the city with narrow streets, natural shading, and light materials. We’ve also oriented the city to create wind tunnels and ensure there is always a breeze. Overall, Masdar City’s downtown core feels about five to 10 degrees cooler than Abu Dhabi. I comfortably eat lunch outside most days at late as May – I think that is saying something.

Please give us an overview of Masdar City's upcoming projects.

Masdar City is growing faster now than we ever have. It’s amazing to see how quickly things are changing. We just finished NZ1, the country’s first net-zero energy commercial building, and we’re already getting requests to replicate it for other tenants. We just opened Masdar Park, which is an amazing all-day family destination that is also sustainable—it and Masdar City’s Central Park have both been awarded the Estidama Exemplar Rating. We also just opened our first mosque, which is in Masdar Park and on track to be rated LEED Platinum.

We’ve also got several other cool projects underway: Masdar City Square, a cluster of seven commercial buildings including a showstopping net-zero energy HQ building, will be finished later this year. The Link is a cluster of five residential and commercial buildings, including a net-zero energy building called CO-LAB that will let professionals live and work in the same space. All of the buildings are on track to be rated LEED Platinum, Estidama 4-Pearl, and WELL Gold, and almost all of them are leased already—even though they won’t be ready for tenants until 2025.

Of course, we have so much more going on than buildings. We’re adding new businesses and test projects to our ecosystem all the time. One of the more exciting recent ones is SAVI, the Smart and Autonomous Vehicle Industries cluster. Masdar City is a natural home base for SAVI given we’ve been innovating in smart, sustainable transportation and R&D for the better part of a decade. Anyone who comes to Masdar City today can ride from our Podium Parking area to our Visitor Centre using our legacy Personal Rapid Transit system, and on-demand, driverless system that allows you to step inside a pod, press a button, and ride away. And there is a lot more to come.

What construction and design trends do you envisage will dominate over the next five years in the region? 

I know without a doubt that sustainable construction will dominate over the next five years in the GCC. We’re already seeing that trend. Fifteen years ago, when I started at Masdar City, we were the only ones talking about sustainability, and now everyone is. The key challenge is how to make sustainability happen in every city, and that is where Masdar City comes in. We’re not just creating a sustainable city. We’re working to make every other city sustainable—it’s not a competition. It’s a race that everyone can win. And so, our mission is to continue engaging with city planners, architects, engineers, developers, start-ups, government, multi-nationals, researchers, universities, and others to help pass on what we have learned and to create new sustainable solutions. The UAE declared last year and this year as the Years of Sustainability. At Masdar City, we’re working to ensure that industry focus continues.