Sprawling over 300 square kilometres with rolling green fields and farmland, the carbon-neutral development in South Korea will be the biggest of its kind in the world - if it comes to fruition. Though still at the concept stage, Incheon would dwarf Abu Dhabi's 6sq km Masdar City, which has influenced it and was designed by the same architectural firm, Foster and Partners. According to architects the South Korean version could be just one of many "babies of Masdar" springing up around the globe, all conceived and modelled on the UAE's project, which could become the blueprint for all such initiatives.
"I think there will be thousands of projects that are going to be influenced by Masdar, I see children of Masdar - it's almost a global brand that could be taken anywhere," said Stefan Behling, one of Foster and Partners' principle architects for Masdar. "Of course it's important to understand that they will look different because of climatic reasons. What you see will be different but the philosophy I hope will be the same," he said.
Incheon does indeed look very different. The development is built around a central transport spine with smaller roads and paths branching out "like the veins of a leaf". The buildings will be constructed in harmony with the natural topography of the site, blending into the landscape, with no structure more than 50m tall. With rolling green fields and terraced farmland, Incheon has a focus on self-sufficiency - something more of a challenge in Abu Dhabi's desert environment - though a sustainable food solution may be introduced at Masdar further down the line, according to Mr Behling.
South Korea plans to feature a light public transport system similar to the one designed for Masdar, and both combine green technology industry with community, cultural and residential buildings. The architects are reluctant to compare the two projects, as Incheon may not even get off the ground and the plans are at a very early strategic level. "It is difficult and dangerous to draw comparisons," said Mr Behling. "Incheon is a concept but Masdar is a reality, I think at the moment it is still light years ahead. Masdar is absolutely leading the world at the moment and I think a lot of people in the UAE haven't even realised just how advanced Masdar is."
The harsh desert environment in which Masdar is being constructed has provided additional challenges for those designing the project. The intense heat also means living without air-conditioning in the summer is inconceivable and the lack of natural water resources poses obstacles. But constant blue skies and intense sunlight make the region ideal for capturing energy from the sun. "The environment for Masdar makes it very demanding. If you want to try and create something that's CO2-neutral, that's energy-efficient, it's very hard," Mr Behling said. "On the other hand, in the UAE you have an advantage too, in terms of harvesting renewable energy."
Despite these obstacles, Abu Dhabi is leading the pack to have the world's first carbon-neutral, zero waste city. From Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay to Huangbaiyu in China, sustainable developments are popping up across the globe, but none has the same scale of ambition as Masdar. "It is encouraging that sustainability is increasingly being factored into development projects," said Khaled Awad, the director of the property development unit at Masdar. "We hope that Masdar City can serve as an inspiration and a model for others to follow, and look forward to seeing more such developments launched around the world." And the influence is often direct. Mr Awad said groups from numerous other sustainable developments, from Europe to China, had already visited Masdar, near Abu Dhabi International Airport, keen to learn from the project.
However, these clean, green, sustainable cities may seem like futile developments while existing cities continue to pump out carbon dioxide with little regard for the environment. With cities accountable for 70 per cent of the world's carbon emissions, the adaptation of the world's existing cities is an essential task. "The ultimate goal must be to adapt to existing cities, because if you don't find the solution for the existing cities, you can build as many new cities as you like, it won't make a difference," said Mr Behling.
He argued that the knowledge and know-how that came out of Masdar would be applicable anywhere, including eventually in the country's major cities. "One little Masdar in its first moment can't change the whole of Abu Dhabi. On the other hand, it's a seed and an example and it could actually change the whole of Abu Dhabi over time," he said. "You can't change everything in the first minute, but it will influence everything." Prof Peter Newman from Australia's Curtin University, a world renowned expert on sustainable development, agrees that projects like Masdar will play an important role as showcases for the technology that exists.
"There's a lot of clever technology that's needing to be trialled on a large scale, like smart grids," said Prof Newman, who has written several books on the subject, including Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems: Principles and Practices. "That's what a development like Masdar will be able to demonstrate." "Smart grids" allow renewable energy, such as solar and wind power, to be distributed at a steady rate, without their natural fluctuations.
"It is a showcase and important because people need a bit of encouragement. When you see a whole range of them being built around the world, people start to think 'this is the thing I need to get'." Prof Newman said he saw the number of projects like Masdar growing "exponentially" over the coming years. It was important that countries took a multi-pronged approach, using headline projects to encourage but also tackling the more difficult task of making existing cities work more efficiently. "There's no doubt that you've got to do both - demonstrate new technology on developments like Masdar but also retrofit your existing cities, and that's where it gets hard," Prof Newman said.
Technologies such as those that exist in Masdar became more difficult to implement when there was existing infrastructure to get in the way, designed to be navigated by car. Sustainable developments must instead feature compact residential areas, making them easier to get around on foot or bicycle. "The knowledge developed at Masdar is undoubtedly going to help cities to understand how to refurbish," Mr Awad said.
"Although it's a completely different project when you are developing a greenfield site from when there's something existing, the knowledge that you build through the process of developing a new city will definitely have an impact on existing cities." The UAE's plans for sustainable development do go wider than Masdar, especially when it comes to renewable energy. Abu Dhabi has pledged to produce seven per cent of its electricity through renewable sources by 2020, and in June was chosen for the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency, which will be situated within the Masdar development.
Last week, Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad, the Minister of Environment and Water, presided over a two-day meeting aimed at preparing a national programme on climate change. The meeting was attended by representatives of Masdar, the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi, UAE University, Emirates Wildlife Society and the Supreme Petroleum Council. Details of the manifesto will be compiled by November. "There's no doubt that it must be a joined-up approach; these developments must go hand in hand with retrofitting of existing cities, which must be backed up by government targets and most importantly awareness and education," Prof Newman said. "There's a long way to go."
And there certainly is - the UAE still has the largest per capita ecological footprint in the world according to the Worldwide Fund for Nature's Living Planet report. As Dr Sultan Al Jaber, the chief executive of Masdar, explained recently in The National, nearly 60 per cent of the UAE's carbon footprint comes from personal energy use. He emphasised that the effort to reduce the country's carbon emissions must come from the top-down in projects such as Masdar's, but also from the bottom-up in grassroots campaigns.
The first phase of Masdar's development is due to be completed early next year, when the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology opens for classes, the region's first postgraduate-level, research-driven scientific institution focused entirely on education in renewable energy and sustainability. When the city is fully built, it will have a population of some 40,000 residents, with 50,000 more people working there and commuting from surrounding areas.
The Dh55 billion (US$15bn) development will eventually be home to more than 1,500 renewable energy-related companies, creating a global centre of renewable innovation. According to Incheon's designs, if that development goes ahead it is expected to grow from 35,000 to 320,000 residents and commuters during its phased development over 10 to 15 years. "In the future you will see hundreds of examples of projects that are influenced by Masdar, but Masdar is the first one and that's always important to remember," said Mr Behling.
@Email:lmorris@thenational.ae
