Spaceship in the Desert: Energy, Climate Change, and Urban Design in Abu Dhabi

In 2006 Abu Dhabi launched an ambitious project to construct the world's first zero-carbon city: Masdar City. In Spaceship in the Desert Gökçe Günel examines the development and construction of Masdar City's renewable energy and clean technology infrastructures, providing an illuminating portrait of an international group of engineers, designers, and students who attempted to build a post-oil future in Abu Dhabi. While many of Masdar's initiatives-such as developing a new energy currency and a driverless rapid transit network-have stalled or not met expectations, Günel analyzes how these initiatives contributed to rendering the future a thinly disguised version of the fossil-fueled present. Spaceship in the Desert tells the story of Masdar, at once a "utopia" sponsored by the Emirati government, and a well-resourced company involving different actors who participated in the project, each with their own agendas and desires.

Author: Gökçe Günel
Publisher: Duke University Press
Published: 03/01/2019
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.70d
ISBN13: 9781478000914
ISBN10: 1478000910
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Anthropology | Cultural & Social
- Nature | Environmental Conservation & Protection | General
- History | Middle East | General

About the Author
Gökçe Günel is Assistant Professor in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Arizona.