The conversation around sustainable cities has changed significantly over the past decade.
What was once centred on renewable energy, green buildings and reducing carbon emissions has expanded to include a broader question: how do cities create healthier, more connected and more resilient communities for the people who live there?
Around the world, governments, developers and urban planners are increasingly recognising that sustainability is experienced as much through everyday life as it is through environmental performance. Walkable neighbourhoods, inclusive public spaces, access to nature and a strong sense of belonging have become just as important as the technologies operating behind the scenes.
When The Sustainable City, developed by SEE Holding, welcomed its first residents in Dubai in 2016, it offered a different perspective on what sustainable urban living could look like. Built on the vision of SEE Holding founder and chairman Faris Saeed, the community was designed as a working model where the social, environmental and economic pillars of sustainability come together, creating a place where people and the planet can flourish.
A decade later, The Sustainable City has evolved from a single proof of concept into a blueprint that is being adapted across cities and markets. It continues to demonstrate that urban development can enhance quality of life, reduce environmental impact and create long-term social and economic value.
Where sustainability becomes part of everyday life
The Sustainable City was designed to make sustainable living feel natural.
Residents move through walkable streets and shared green spaces. Urban farms and biodomes reconnect communities with food production and biodiversity. Renewable energy, water recycling and resource-efficient infrastructure quietly support everyday life, allowing sustainability to become something people experience rather than simply observe.
These systems also deliver measurable results. Homes achieve savings of at least 60 per cent on electricity bills, while the community records 78 per cent lower emissions compared with the UAE residential baseline and diverts more than 89 per cent of waste from landfill. All wastewater is treated and reused for irrigation, while solar panels across homes and parking areas contribute to the community’s renewable-energy infrastructure.
Each element was planned as part of a connected ecosystem, where environmental performance enhances daily life while strengthening the community's long-term resilience.
That approach reflects a wider shift taking place across the UAE, where sustainable development is increasingly viewed through the lens of quality of life, innovation and future readiness.
Communities thrive when everyone belongs
For founder and chairman Mr Saeed, building sustainable communities has always included creating places where everyone feels they belong.
That philosophy is perhaps best reflected in Sanad Village, a specialised autism centre at the heart of The Sustainable City. The centre forms part of the everyday rhythm of the community, reflecting the belief that inclusion should be embedded into cities from the beginning rather than treated as an addition.
As conversations around neurodiversity continue to evolve globally, Sanad Village demonstrates how thoughtful urban planning can help create more connected, compassionate communities.
That human dimension was visible when actor Will Smith spent time at Sanad Village during a visit to The Sustainable City. His interactions with its students and team captured something difficult to communicate through statistics alone: the ability of an inclusive community to create confidence, connection and opportunity.
Moments such as these also demonstrate how global influence can bring wider attention to ideas already being lived every day. Star power may open the door to a broader audience, but it is the authenticity of the people, places and experiences behind the story that gives that attention lasting meaning.
Growing an oasis in the desert
The physical transformation of The Sustainable City tells another important story.
Built on what was once desert landscape, the community has become an internationally recognised example of how integrated environmental systems can support thriving urban life in arid climates.
Its biodomes and community gardens bring food production closer to residents, while productive landscaping, smart irrigation, renewable energy and water conservation work together as part of one connected urban ecosystem. Rather than treating sustainability as a collection of individual technologies, the community demonstrates how these systems can collectively support healthier and more resilient ways of living.
Experiencing these spaces offers a more immediate understanding of what sustainable urban development can achieve. A walk through the urban farms, car-free clusters and solar-powered facilities reveals how environmental responsibility can be woven into daily life without compromising comfort, convenience or quality.
Where global ideas meet local impact
The UAE has increasingly become a place where ideas are brought to life.
The recently launched Dubai-it philosophy captures that mindset, celebrating the ability to turn bold ideas into meaningful outcomes through excellence, speed and execution.
The Sustainable City has embraced that same philosophy since its earliest days. SEE Holding set out to build a working model that could be experienced, tested and continuously improved.
Its success has made the community a destination for policymakers, researchers, urban planners, entrepreneurs and globally recognised cultural figures interested in how the future of living is already taking shape. The value of this attention extends beyond individual visits: it helps translate complex conversations about sustainability, inclusion, longevity and future cities into stories that can resonate with audiences far beyond the urban-development sector.
This is also reflected in SEE Holding’s work with Maye Musk as the global voice of The Sustainable City, connecting sustainable living with wider discussions about longevity, well-being and human potential. Her perspective reinforces an increasingly important idea: the places people inhabit can play a defining role in their well-being and longevity.
Global visibility is most valuable when it directs attention towards credible solutions. In this case, the story is not simply that influential people are visiting The Sustainable City, but that a working urban model developed in Dubai is generating interest among people with the reach to carry its ideas into broader global conversations.
Lessons for the future
Ten years after welcoming its first residents, The Sustainable City continues to offer valuable lessons for the future of urban development.
The original Dubai community has informed an expanding portfolio across Sharjah, Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah II and Yiti in Oman. While each responds to its own location and community, they are connected by the same ambition: to deliver net-zero, resilient and human-centric places that improve quality of life while reducing environmental impact.
As countries continue to invest in the next generation of cities, the conversation is becoming less about individual technologies and more about the lives those innovations enable.
That has always been the ambition behind The Sustainable City, and now, a decade after its first residents arrived, it continues to show how environmental performance, intelligent infrastructure and people-centric design can come together to create the cities of the future, today.
