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Oil money has conjured up a pricey experiment in sustainability in a patch of desert between downtown Abu Dhabi and its airport. There, the city of Masdar (“the source”) is rising. It is meant to signal a shift away from fossil fuels by hosting a variety of ecofriendly approaches, such as a system of subterranean electric cars–Personalized Rapid Transit–that whisk visitors and residents from point to point.
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Can a Sustainable City Rise in the Middle Eastern Desert?
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The initial Personal Rapid Transit concept was to be operated in an “undercroft”, below the pedestrian level. The undercroft concept has been scrapped as being too expensive. The pedestrian level is not suitable for PRT vehicles as the streets are narrow and not well-connected. And, no parking areas have been included in the design of the pedestrian level. Therefore, a major redesign is needed if there are to be “driven” electric vehicles in operation at the pedestrian level, instead of PRT vehicles operating in the undercroft to provide a city-wide internal circulation service. Such a redesign effort is not underway, so far as I know.