value cityI found this article on Treehugger.com.... Very interesting!
Masdar City, the United Arab Emirates' ambitious project to build the first zero-emissions city in the Middle East, is already spawning similar initiatives in the region. According to Abu Dhabi newspaper The National, Jordan is interested in building its own version of Masdar - ten times the size of the original.
Serge Younes, of the UK-based company WSP Group, which is involved in working out sustainability issues in Masdar, says Jordan's new ecocity would be built on the outskirts of Amman and eventually house a million people. (Note: Jordan's entire population numbers only around 7 million.)
Unlike its counterpart in Abu Dhabi, the new city, which has yet to receive a name, will not be zero carbon. It will, however, utilize many of the same elements: waste and water will be recycled and reused, housing will be built and orientated to take advantage of prevailing winds and maximize energy efficiency, efficient district-wide systems will handle heating and cooling, and electricity will come from planned wind and solar thermal plants, or be generated on site.
According to The National, building a sustainable city in Jordan will likely be an easier task than building Masdar, since the climate in Jordan is more hospitable and the people are already used to conserving water and other resources.
The project has the support of the King and the government, who are looking for investors, and construction is expected to begin early next year. The official announcement of the plan will take place in June.
Apropos Masdar City - the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, the developer of the project, has announced that it will begin posting a record of the carbon emitted during the city's construction on a website, as well as a video recording of the progress of construction in real time.
For more on Masdar City:
Model Ecopolis Called Masdar
Can Foster + Partners' Masdar City in U.A.E be Truly Sustainable?
Masdar City to Build "Positive-Energy" Building
Via:: The National Newspaper
