[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILlF34KJMJw[/youtube]Take a new tour through the Masdar Institute with this video.
Modeling traditional Arabic cities and using old innovation like windcatchers, Masdar has become an expensive showcase for sustainable living in the Middle East. The above video gives a tour of some of the renewable energy initiatives there, like heliostats, and its pod cars. I love the idea of incubating science fiction “green energy” ideas in the real world, but where are the people in this so-called sustainable community? Did the directors tell them to disappear when the cameraman arrived?
Mari,
Every photo I have seen of Masdar looks either really lonely or populated with an alien tribe of people who have come to ogle at the “city” for an hour or so. Where is the life? If I were living in this technological wonder, I’d be sitting on a bench watching the train of journalists and visitors streaming through. Something there seems forced and unnatural. I could be wrong.
As you know, so far the only permanent buildings at the MC site are those of the Masdar Institute. During the day, research institute people usually stay indoors and work in their offices or receive classes… I get the point of the piece, I too think it’s good to be critical about the GCC states’ new energy and sustainability initiatives, but let’s try to criticise relevant issues like the gap between promises and progress, or the fact that these pod cars still appear in Masdar promo material although their future role in the city is currently envisaged to be minimal.