From how it will be built to be futuristic, to how this impacts China's plans for the future,
and more! Allow us to show you China's Most Futuristic City!
8. The State Of China You might hear that China
is making a "futuristic city" and think, "So what?" Mainly because it's only natural
that certain places like China would want to go and do such a thing for various reasons, right?
Well, that's one way of looking at it, but that's not the whole picture.
You see, China is one of the most populated places in the world,
and they've been seeing a lot of growth over the last few decades that is putting a lot of strain
on the cities that they currently have built. By their own estimates, if things go as they are now,
over 70% of the population of China will be in massive cities by 2035. That might
seem like a "then problem" but it's actually one that they need to deal with right now.
Because the numbers also state that this will mean over a BILLION people will be in their biggest
cities and that's not a good thing for various reasons. The overpopulation factor will cause
lots of problems, not the least of which is jammed up traffic ways that spew pollution into the air,
as well as gum up the works of transportation for both businesses and working people alike.
As such, China has been working hard to go and develop new areas for these people to live in
and also have a true life in. And one of their most promising spots is...
7. Shenzhen and Its "New District" The city of Shenzhen is already a major city
in China, but work on a new district has begun that is aiming to change things for the better.
Dubbed "Net City," the 2-million-square-meter (22-million-square-foot) urban development will
prioritize pedestrians, green spaces and self-driving vehicles, according to its designers.
this is a big deal for various reasons, not the least of which is that they're trying to slow down
the pollution of the area and ensure that those within this new district/city have good lives.
The benefactor of this project is Tencent, a major Chinese company that has their hands
in just about everything in the world today for better or for worse. Yet you can't deny that with
this particular project, they're onto something that'll help China...while also helping themselves
as you're about to see. 6. The Tencent City
Designed to accommodate a population of some 80,000 people, the site will primarily serve
Tencent, the conglomerate behind WeChat and China's popular QQ messaging service.
But as well as providing company residences and offices, the neighborhood is expected to host
shops, schools and other public amenities, and will be connected to the rest of Shenzhen via road
bridges, ferries and the city's subway system. The American firm behind the master plan, NBBJ,
hopes that the new district's entertainment venues, parks and waterside promenade will
attract visitors from elsewhere in the city. As such, the plan differs from the enclosed
campuses pioneered by big tech companies in recent years, according to Jonathan Ward,
a design partner at NBBJ. "It's definitely a destination
(and has) a civic component," he said in a phone interview. "It's not meant to be an isolated,
secure island -- it's a vibrant city. People will walk through it, they'll connect ... and
it will be a vital hub for Shenzhen." So there's a lot of things going on here,
and you could argue that this futuristic city is one that more of a "test run" for things to come
as well as to see just how successful Tencent can be in doing a task like this.
The construction of the Tencent City is going to take place over the course of about 7 years
and be done in phases in order to get things done efficiently
and yet quick enough so that people can go and get into the city sooner rather than later. And
you can bet that they're trying everything they possibly can to make this a place that isn't like
other cities that have come before it. 5. How Cars Factors Into The "Net City"
When you think about a city, especially one that is meant to be "of the future",
you can't help but think about how the cities right now are livable...but not exactly the best
places to be depending on the city itself. Not the least of which is because of cars.
After all, for most people, cars are a necessity even if you don't drive one personally. Some
people take Ubers to work, others take the bus or even a train to get to where they need to go.
And for many populated cities (including ones in China), the car population is so thick that
smog from those cars pollute everything around it, which is why several Chinese
cities have their people wear masks so they don't directly breathe in the pollutants.
However, according to Jonathan Ward, that's not going to be what happens here with Net City,
they're aiming to do better. So much so that their main desire is to limit
and remove the role of cars within its borders. "Our main goal was to provide a place where
innovation can really flourish," he explained. "To do that, we tried to minimize the
impact of the car as much as possible. "Going 'car-free' is still a little bit
challenging in our world, so we spent a lot of time designing the city to be as low-impact
as possible, removing (cars from) where they don't need to be and focusing on people."
Although regular cars will be able to access some parts of the neighborhood, the plan centers around
a "green corridor" designed for buses, bikes and autonomous vehicles. The layout eliminates
what Ward called "unnecessary" traffic. "You don't need one block surrounded by
roads -- you can maybe have eight blocks surrounded by a road, and take away all the
ones in between," he said. "We've been 'subtracting' roads in places where we
think it's perfectly fine for people to walk two minutes longer from a subway or a (taxi) drop-off.
And, in those two minutes, you might see something inspiring, connect to nature or meet a colleague
you haven't seen for a while -- all those things you can see happening in a workplace environment
can happen in the city." You might think that this is an
odd thing to try and do but it's actually quite creative for various reasons.
Many of which have to do with what China has been trying to do recently in terms of energy.
4. Green Energy, Green City You see, for the past 100+ years,
ever since cities have been getting and bigger within the United States and beyond
for reasons that were more about vanity than efficient or being eco-friendly, the problem
of how to fix certain pollution problems have popped up and then repeatedly been smacked down.
In short, there are many around the world (and especially in the United States)
who are so fine with the current way of building things in regards to using gas-powered products
that they are ignoring what these large cities are doing to the environment
and how they're hastening global warming. However, China has been one of many countries
who have been trying to change things via changing their methods. For example,
they've been going and making large grids of solar panels both on the water, on land, and at times,
using their very own highways! They're trying to be the most Green Energy country on the planet.
And this applies to Net City because they're not only trying to make a
clean environment for people to "live and play in", but they're also trying to go
and make it a truly sustainable city in terms of its energy production and consumption.
Even in the Tencent company building that'll be housed within the Net City
you'll find various advances to try and make it more energy efficient. Including having solar
panels powering the building, and a special system that'll recycle water so that more isn't needed.
As if that wasn't enough, the city is apparently going to be outlined with "environmental sensors"
that are designed to help predict and detect whether the environment is changing around them,
including rising sea levels. Which as many coast dwelling people will tell you has been a major
problem in recent years. 3. Nature and Work
If you go and look at how Tencent is aiming to build the "Net City",
you're going to find that they are having various parks and other nature-filled spots
all around the city for people to go and enjoy when they want to "change the scenery".
Why does that matter? Because when you think of major cities like Chicago, New York,
Berlin, Beijing and others, you don't think about the nature aspect of it
very much because most times all you see are the major buildings. But with the Net City,
they're aiming to change that with various parks and even putting in things like wetlands around
the city to help the city in terms of protection from things like floods and rising ocean levels.
They're trying to build a place where people can truly go and take a walk or
a bike ride around not just see buildings and skyscrapers. There's even going to be buildings
where the greenery is literally built into them, which will be a unique look no doubt.
2. An "Organic Ecosystem" Continuing on with the landscape element of the
city, the Net City will be designed not just to help nature bloom, but to bring people together.
To emphasize human connections and not just walking alongside someone on the street:
"Traditional cities are very much siloed, even in the densest cities where there's more interaction
and intermixing," Ward notes. "But what can happen now is you can start to blur those
lines (between work and play), and bring more interaction between different parts of life."
"You're seeing more blurring of those lines, for better or for worse. But I
think we can make it for the better as we tune this model going forward," he added.
As you can see, they're really trying to make it so that people feel connected
to one another beyond the idea of them just "being in the same city". According to Tencent,
by having things done this way, it'll help give employees a happier feeling
and a fresher mindset that'll encourage cooperation with teammates going forward.
Which is something that many would love to have no doubt in their cities and workplaces.
1. More Future Cities? Naturally, this brings
us to the question of how many more future cities like this are going to be put in China.
The answer is...a lot more, and they're already working on others outside of "Net City" right now.
One of which is a 4.6-square-kilometer (1.8-square-mile) site outside Chengdu,
the capital of Sichuan province. This place will be home to multiple new universities,
laboratories and offices, according to the architectural firms behind the project.
China as a whole is trying to quickly build up more futuristic cities that'll go and act as
a "buffer" if you will to divert people from the major cities that they're living in now
to the "satellite cities" that are outside of them
in order to stave off overpopulation that is already happening within their borders.
And no doubt as many of these future cities are born China will come up with new ideas
on how to make things work for them and get things to where they need them to
be to be sufficient, self-sustaining, and so on. One might not agree with everything that is going
on with China, but you can't deny that they are a nation that sees the path that the world is going
and they are working to try and make things better for their people. Other nations are
doing the same and if their examples are followed, there may be more futuristic cities
that we can appreciate sooner rather than later. Thanks for watching! What did you think of this
look at Shenzhen and how it's the most futuristic city in the world currently?
Are you surprised by how much time and effort China has gone to try and modernize and futurize
their cities? Do you feel that things like this are going to continue in the future? Let us know
in the comments below, be sure to subscribe and we'll see you next time on the channel!