Executive Summary Sustainable development confers the development of human activities in an environmentally friendly manner. Most cities are starting to embrace the concept to overcome environmental challenges that undermine the longevity of development activities and the vibrancy natural ecosystems. Abu Dhabi is at the forefront of this initiative. This paper explores the underpinnings of sustainable development, as a concept, and as an international statute, that defines development activities. This analysis occurs through the understanding that economic, social, and environmental pillars of development define sustainable development. A deeper understanding of how sustainable development affects natural ecosystems also suffices in this regard. Based on the understanding that sustainable development is an essential guideline for future developments, this paper uses Abu Dhabi as a case study to explore the adoption of the concept in the desert city. The progress and vision of Estidama and Masdar city, as sustainable pioneer projects in the UAE, show that Abu Dhabi has a promising future in the adoption of sustainable development. This paper also shows that Abu Dhabi is a leader in the adoption of sustainable development not only in the UAE but also in the wider Arab Gulf region. However, compared to other sustainable cities in the world, Abu Dhabi’s sustainable development plan stands out because it has unique sustainable challenges that stem from its extreme climatic conditions. Moreover, Abu Dhabi has a unique cultural background that prevents the adoption of western-styled principles of sustainability. In this regard, this paper affirms that Abu Dhabi adopts a special set of standards for sustainability that appeal to its local dynamics. Lastly, compared to other sustainable cities around the world, Abu Dhabi’s vision of sustainability appears to be highly ambitious. Introduction Sustainable development is a commonly used term that denotes the ability of present generations to meet their needs, while ensuring the protection of future generation needs as well (Gandhi 654). Sustainable development is, therefore, a human activity development paradigm that seeks to maximise existing resources in a way that maximises output, to avoid wastages and minimise resource use. In the seventies, analysts conceived the concept of sustainability to describe economies that achieved a balance between their economic needs and environmental concerns (Gandhi 654). Economists adopted this concept after touting the idea that economic sustainability was subject to limits of growth (Swanson 630). As an alternative, they proposed that different countries should strive to have a steady-state economy, which balances economic and environmental needs. This paradigm of sustainability stemmed from the idea that the world contains limited resources. Since most human activities deplete these resources, nature overstretches its limits to support social activities. Therefore, people have to seek better ways of sustaining human activities, in a way that balances human needs and environmental needs. Stated differently, people have to seek sustainable ways of sustaining their development activities. A common concept of sustainable development is environmental conservation. However, ecological conservation emerges as a small constituent of a larger concept of ecological sustainability. Similarly, the