Xiong’an: A Futuristic Urban Vision

The day had quite declined when Guo Xiaoke walked out of the office building. The setting sun was touching the city’s skyline, with contours of trees and low buildings looming in the distance.

“You barely see such stunning skylines in other metroplis, but there are not many skyscrapers in Xiong’an, to enhance livability,” said the young city official. Arrived about a year ago, Guo decided to leave his job as a university professor in Beijing and moved to Xiong’an New Area together with his wife and child. “It is a new city full of vigor and vitality, and I decided to move here to witness the making of a miracle.”

Xiong’an New Area, established as a national-level development zone in Hebei Province in 2017, perches some 100km south of both Beijing and Tianjin. A previously underdeveloped country region is gradually turning into a futuristic mega city with a sustainable development scheme and all-round smart infrastructure from scratches. Its importance was stressed in a proposal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on November 3rd.“A millennium plan” and “a project with national significance” as President Xi Jinping terms, the city is a pilot project aimed to receive Beijing’s “non-capital functions” and to take pressure off the capital. It plans to build up a smart, sustainable and resident-friendly future city.

“Everything is new and thriving,” said Bian Jianguo, a senior official in Xiong’an, with an obvious excitement on his face, “I feel invigorated everyday by all these quick changes and development in the city.”

In Xiong’an, all kinds of new technology are welcomed and widely used. Life in Xiong’an will be as smart and automated, if not more, as in sci-fic movies.

High-tech tycoons like Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent will settle down here and will bring AI technology, 5G, cloud computing, big data and many other new technologies to the urban planning and development.

Adjacent to Baiyangdian, the vast freshwater lake known as the “kidney of north China”, Xiong’an tries to establish an interdependent relationship between human and nature.

As it is planned, a massive of 70% of the total city area will be covered in vegetation and water. The city tries to integrate the native landscape of green lands and wetlands into the residents’ daily life. It also encourages a healthy lifestyle by planning to develop boulevards for jogging, marathons and cycling, and waterways for rowing.

Strict checks will be put on the number of cars in the city. Instead, a green and efficient public transit system is under construction to reduce as much carbon impact as possible, while making people’s life more convenient. It is estimated that, the ridership of public transportation will be up to 80% after the facilities are in place.

The new development model of Xiong’an will be challenging traditional Chinese urbanization model, which pursues economic efficiency at the cost of livability and aesthetics.

In Xiong’an, the idea of “15-Minute Community-Life Circle” will limit residents’ daily commute within a quarter’s time.

“Many cities in China are too populated nowadays and people are too tired of traveling from home to their companies and other facilities,” said Guo, “Xiong’an will be a city suitable and convenient for residence in the near future.”

High quality facilities and public service will also be provided to promote an innovative model for urban management and development.

陈佳颖 刘勇亮/供稿

陈佳颖/供图