Less than 25 kilometres from Downtown Dubai, in an area that was barren desert until a few years ago, exists a residential eco-experiment, called The Sustainable City.
The Executive Director of the See Institute, a sustainable living research centre based in the city, believes that like so many success stories, this one was born out of a desire for positive change.
“The Sustainable City came from the Global Financial Crisis ten years ago where we really realised we needed to come up with a different model which makes ecological and business sense at the same time.”
Karim el-Jisr, Executive Director, See Institute
And out of the desert, this oasis appeared. A bustling, thriving hub of like-minded families and small businesses.
Ola Sinno, the co-owner of a coffee shop based in the city explains the pervasive ethos.
“We try to be as eco-friendly as possible, and we couldn’t find a better home for us than The Sustainable City. We try to bake small batches of everything, we’re constantly baking so we waste nothing and it’s always fresh. Same with our procurement of vegetables and fruits, we try to source locally and we try to source constantly so we waste nothing.”
