A purpose-built green-tech district at the edge of the mainland near the airport, planned by Foster + Partners as a zero-carbon prototype city. Around 7,000 people now live and work here, in narrow shaded streets that catch the prevailing wind and amplify it through a 45 m-tall wind tower in the central plaza.
Visitors come for the architecture and the urban planning experiment as much as the cafes and shops. The Masdar Institute campus is striking; the personal rapid transit pods are a curiosity. A useful hour or two if you are interested in sustainable design.