Tencent unveils plans for a high-tech 21-million-square-foot ‘City of the Future’ in Shenzhen planned to open in 2027
- Chinese tech giant Tencent is planning to build its own city in Shenzhen
- Built on 320 acres on the Shenzhen Bay, the so-called ‘Net City’ will emphasize sustainable power sources and encourage walking and bicycling
- The construction is planned to take place over three phases across seven years
The Chinese tech giant Tencent has announced plans to develop a ‘Net City’ on 320 acres of undeveloped land in Shenzhen.
The seven-year project is being developed in partnership with architecture firm NBBJ and will be designed as a self-contained ‘city of the future’ with a special emphasis on sustainability and pedestrian friendly green spaces.
The city will span 21-million square feet in total, roughly the same size as Midtown Manhattan, with construction planned to start in the second half of 2020.
Chinese tech giant Tencent is partnering with architecture firm NBBJ to design a new ‘Net City’ on 320 acres of land in Shenzhen, with a targeted opening date in 2027
‘In today’s computer-driven world, we are free to imagine a highly integrated city that brings “work, live, play” closer together to foster more synergy between people,’ NBBJ’s Jonathan Ward said in a prepared statement.
The first phase of construction will focus on building apartments, office buildings, and a transportation hub with subway and ferry service to connect to the rest of Shenzhen, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
The second and third phases of construction will focus on shopping malls, schools, public parks and sports facilities.
The city will be designed to encourage residents to walk or bicycle as their main method of transportation, with only a limited number of roads accessible by car, with many of those roads purposefully designed to encourage low-speed driving.
Buildings will all be constructed using a terraced design and range from one to 30 stories, and the majority will have solar cells mounted on their roofs.
Described as a city of the future, Tencent’s ‘Net City’ will span 21 million square feet of land, and be constructed in three phases, the first of which will focus on apartments, offices and a transportation hub, planned to begin in the second half of 2020
The city will have a major emphasis on pedestrian spaces and minimize the number of roads accessible by car
Buildings will be constructed with terraced designs to maximize outdoor space, and the majority will have rooftop solar cells for additional power
The city will also have waterfront space along Shenzhen Bay designed to prevent flooding during storm surges, in accordance with China’s recent ‘Sponge City’ plans for managing urban water flow and rising sea levels.
NBBJ previously worked with Tencent to design the company’s new headquarters building in Shenzhen.
That design features two interconnected towers, the tallest of which is 820-feet, with 2.9 million square feet of office space capable of accommodating 12,000 employees.