- Gordon Dumoulin
A quick drive through the future's smart city under construction...
A quick glimpse into the Xiong’an New Area, building a smart sustainable and self-sufficient city, innovation hub and template for future cities.
Yesterday we had to be in a town adjacent to the Xiong’an New Area in #hebei province, about 120km south of Beijing. So we did not miss the chance to have a quick drive through #xiongan. Limited by time, we navigated to the new high speed railway station, opened last December. Many roads are blocked for public due to construction works going on but you can see construction sites, cranes, construction workers with their temporary housing everywhere. Trucks with building materials driving on and off the roads. It is estimated that about 100,000 construction workers are present, working in one of the over 200 major construction sites.
Also green areas and newly planted forests can be seen in the area. Unfortunately we did not have time to visit other development locations in the area.
Although you would need a camera drone to get the real overall impression about the immense scale, the quick ride definitely showed the vibe and future-in-progress. The initial phase of Xiong’an New Area is located in three counties with a surface of about 100km2. Future blueprints mention a size of about 2,000km2.
