Abu-Dhabi is planning on building the first carbon-neutral city on earth to be called Masdar. I was looking at some of the computer generated plans on-line, and it is definitely an interesting experiment. However, I can't help but be skeptical. The amount of resources going into the project (labor, materials, etc.) seems enormous. The city will also not allow any cars, but I can't imagine that most residents won't just keep a car stored outside the city. And they say they will plant trees in the city to offset those environmental costs - but is that the same? and is a planned city like this really only available to the wealthy?

I am not a city planner/architect/developer, but I am wondering if something like Masdar is just a fad? Could a city like this really be a lasting place?