Urban landscape of China's "city of future" takes shape 7 years into construction

In spring, self-driving electric buses ply streets with greenery-shrouded buildings on both sides in Xiong'an New Area in Hebei Province, north China, as the futuristic city entered its seventh year of construction on Monday.

At the end of March, the main structure of the 150-meter tall Sinochem Tower, a landmark building in the key business district, was completed. The "golden reed" design concept of the building represents the city's characteristic plant, which grows in abundance around Baiyangdian Lake, one of northern China's major wetlands.

Sinochem Tower is the tallest among more than 4,000 buildings erected in Xiong'an, as planners want no towering concrete forest blocking the urban skyline.

In April 2017, China decided to establish the Xiong'an New Area, part of a strategy to promote the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Xiong'an was designed to be a smart and livable city that is innovative, green and free from "urban ills."

Spanning an area of 1,770-square-km, the Xiong'an New Area aims to create a habitable paradise for residents, with parks, amusement facilities, schools and convenience stores all available within a 15-minute walking distance. It is planned to use only 30 percent of the city's space for urban construction, with the rest covered by water and greenery.

Xiong'an already boasts 141 km of underground channels with smart-controlled utilities like electricity, communications, heating, gas and water supplies. The city's computing center -- with its facade reminiscent of the shape of an eye -- is dubbed the city's "brain," and is the control center assisting the smart city construction and management.

By the end of 2023, China's centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) had set up more than 200 branches in Xiong'an.

By the end of March, Xiong'an New Area Zhongguancun (ZGC) Science Park, set up jointly by China Xiongan Group and ZGC Group, had gathered 70 private science and technology enterprises, and is expected to introduce another 100 private science and technology companies this year.

The Xiong'an branch of Beijing-based Xuanwu Hospital, under Capital Medical University, started trial operations in October last year.

Liu Dongbin, vice president of the Xiong'an branch of Xuanwu Hospital, said the hospital featured a self-service pharmacy. Upon receiving doctors' prescriptions, image recognition cameras identify the drugs, and six sets of mechanical arms automatically fetch them to the front desk, ready to be collected by patients.

Construction is ongoing on the campus buildings of four Beijing-based universities and the site of Peking University People's Hospital, one of Beijing's top hospitals. In the future, 15 universities in Beijing will have campuses in Xiong'an.

The new area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital, while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. It has been connected into high-speed railway and expressway networks in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.