In recent years, various proposals have emerged for the construction of
“eco-cities,” specially designed communities with an explicit environmental
focus that often incorporate technologically sophisticated building design,
comprehensive master-planning, renewable energy sources, and efforts to
achieve resource self-sufficiency. This trend, however, is subject to intense
criticism among some proponents of sustainable urbanism, on grounds
ranging from the purported social exclusivity of eco-cities to the claimed
incompatibility between a sustainable mode of living and continued economic
growth in the contemporary Western model. Masdar City, an eco-city
presently being built in the United Arab Emirates, serves as a useful case
study in this debate, with such unconventional features as an underground
network of tunnels for electric cars and an aim of developing a zero-carbon
electricity supply. After examining the Masdar project in particular, and the
scholarly context surrounding sustainable urbanism in general, this essay
offers a new method for evaluating the environmental and social effects
of eco-cities. Using the dual concepts of an “experimental” approach that
favors a diverse collection of initiatives for ecologically conscious urban
planning and a “human-benefits” perspective that emphasizes inhabitants’
quality of life, the paper concludes that, despite its disadvantages, Masdar
City represents an important advance in the field of sustainable urban design.