Foster + Partners says the walled city of Masdar in Abu Dhabi will be the world's first zero-carbon and zero-waste city

Foster + Partners has revealed these images of what it claims to be the first zero carbon, zero-waste city in the world.

The Masdar development in Abu Dhabi is a 6 km sq, car-free “walled-city” scheme. The development is being driven by Abu Dhabi’s Future Energy Company and will include a new HQ for the company as well as a new university.

Norman Foster said: “The environmental ambitions of the Masdar Initiative – zero carbon and waste free – are a world first. They have provided us with a challenging design brief that promises to question conventional urban wisdom at a fundamental level. Masdar promises to set new benchmarks for the sustainable city of the future.”

Unveiled today at the Cityscape conference in Abu Dhabi, Foster + Partners said Masdar would be a dense, walled development constructed in two stages. The first phase would see the construction of a large photovoltaic power plant, which would later become the site for the second phase.

The surrounding land will contain wind, photovoltaic farms, research fields and plantations, so that the city will be entirely self-sustaining, the architect said.

The development is set to open in late 2009.

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