Solar City to Rise in Persian Gulf

The push to find ways to build not just buildings, but communities — even small cities — with low environmental impacts is under way, although mainly outside the United States, it seems. Ever since I stumbled onto the fascinating Web site www.inhabitat.com, I’ve been assembling a list of large-scale projects designed for negligible fossil-fuel use and emissions of greenhouse gases, access to mass transit, and other environmental and social attributes.

Nearly all seem to be somewhere other than the United States, although I’d happily be pointed to examples I’ve missed. I have a story in this week’s Science Times on Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City — a 2.3-square-mile complex that by 2016 should, if plans hold, house nearly 50,000 people working on next-generation energy technologies. No cars. Solar cells for electricity and solar-thermal arrays for the energy needed for air conditioning. Local agriculture. Waste fully recycled.

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