Hangzhou
The Heart of a City from Zero
▟▝▖▟▝▖▟▝▖▟▝▖▟▝▖▟▝▖▟▝▖
Rather than being about flying cars, the immediate future is focused on cities in perfect equilibrium with the environment, and this is one of them.
▟ If you had a blank sheet of paper and every possible resource available to you, how would
you design a new city? Though not experts in the field, we are sure that we would agree
on at least one thing: more green areas.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
That is precisely one of the features of the new center planned for Hangzhou, the capital of China’s Zhejiang province.
▟▝▖Won by British architecture firm Foster and Partners, the project is based on a very low carbon master plan.
What’s more, it respects the region’s wetlands, combining sustainable actions like reusing collected rainwater, to cite an example.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
According to its creators, the idea is to achieve spaces for living, working and leisure
activities through 24-hour equilibrium.
Residents of this “green heart” will thus have everything at their fingertips.
▟ Experts visualize the space as an axis that brings life and nature all around it.
Other bodies of water will complement the wetlands, turning it into a “leafy spine” that leads to such public spaces as a library and a cultural center.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
Furthermore, means of transportation are being conceived to bring this new area closer to
the financial district of the city, which, by the way, is among the most prosperous in China.
Among proposed mobility options are autonomous pods and shared transportation, including shared micro-mobility and water transport!
