Xeritown, a small development with a focus on sustainability, will attempt to work town squares, shops and living spaces into the desert climate, using efficient design techniques to cut down on the use of heat, water and energy.
Proposed to be built in the emerging Dubailand, a new extension of Dubai, the master plan of Xeritown consists of a number of dense urban clusters located within the landscape.
Designed to work in harmony with the environment of the region through site specific and climate sensitive architecture and planning, X–Architects and SMAQ, desided to built Xeritown across a north-south axis to exploit the cool breezes blowing in off the sea while the hot desert breeze is blocked out.
Inhabitants of Xeritown will also be protected by the dangerous desert sun since most of the buildings will be tall enough to block out the sun for most of the day, and walkways leading along shops and homes will have significant overhangs, so people can walk in almost complete shade. In places where buildings don't block out the sun, big flat circles that look a little like large masses of lily pads will hang over walkways.
The town will encourage a pedestrian-orientated lifestyle, and only two-lane streets will be made to significantly reduce the number of vehicles and pollution.
The architects were not just thinking about environmental sustainability, when working on Xeritown, they were also thinking about social sustainability and how different types of families, people of different ages, different incomes and different ethnicities could live in harmony.
The result? A town comfortable, enjoyable to live in and with streets that are built for people not cars. 
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