Next month, Masdar (which means "the source" in Arabic) near Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates will host the ground breaking of a six-square-kilometer city that its developers say will be the first zero-pollution, zero-waste city. The city will be capable of housing 47,500 people, who are scheduled to start moving there in 2009. Construction is expected to take 10 years."

The vision of the city, designed by Foster and Partners, is to be a model for sustainable architecture. It will feature a solar-photovoltaic power plant, solar canopies that provide shade, an electric light-rail system, a series of automated transport pods (instead of cars), a desalination facility and wastewater recovery system to grow plants that could be used for biofuels

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