Masdar

So why is the United States not the country to try to conduct the largest urban green experiment? Seriously, even Abu Dhabi is more adventurous and leading edge than us? What the hell is going on?

According to the BBC, Masdar City will take eight years and $22B, and is planned to house 50,000 people. Solar, electromagnetic 'travel pods,' large-scale desalination, and a hydrogen plant are all in the works. Sure, it could end up being a Muslim Arcosanti, but even if it's only half as successful as its very optimistic plan, they stand to learn more about the practical matters of implementation and livability than practically anyone else in the world. Of course, we could always go to Disneyland's World of Tomorrow to see how we'll be living in 2016...