Masdar City Festival takes sustainability into community

The festival at Masdar City has attracted its biggest crowds ever as this year’s Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week drew to a successful close this weekend.

Visitors enjoyed a fun-packed weekend of family-themed games, activities and live entertainment, as well as stalls selling arts, handicrafts and souvenirs, and delicious food and treats.

A sustainability message ran through all the attractions, and this year’s festival also celebrated 2017 as the UAE’s "Year of Giving".

Launched in 2014, the Masdar City Festival promotes community awareness of sustainability and the adoption of more sustainable behaviour.

This year’s event also marked the launch of Masdar Park, an outdoor dining destination with outlets housed inside recycled shipping containers powered by solar panels. Open until April, the park features a recycled musical instrument wall and a bicycle-powered cinema, it is also the starting point for a new 2.6km-long cycle and running track.

Activities at the festival this year were divided into ten different zones reflecting the 10th anniversary of Masdar in 2016 (and the 10th World Future Energy Summit).

"It was a pleasure to see so many UAE residents join us for the fourth festival at Masdar City. Without a doubt, it was the biggest yet," said Dr. Nawal Al Hosany, Executive Director for Sustainability and Brand at Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company.

"Each year the festival proves that sustainability can be fun and easy to incorporate into our everyday lives," she added.

"Masdar City is the ideal venue to take the sustainability message into the community. And with the Masdar Park now up and running, we hope to welcome even more visitors to Masdar City in the months ahead."

The festival marks the end of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2017 (ADSW 2017). This year’s event featured the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum, the seventh General Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency, IRENA, the ninth Zayed Future Energy Prize and the tenth World Future Energy Summit. A global platform for renewable energy policy and business, ADSW 2017 saw a 35 per cent increase in exhibitors and a 19 per cent rise in attendees compared to last year.