Original title: These five in the 2020sGreat wisdomCities to watch: Toyota Weaving City, Saudi Neom... Source: Forward-Looking Economist

In 1964, British architect Ron Herron proposed the concept of the so-called “Walking City” (Walking City). Herron envisions a city supported by a massive artificial intelligence mobile platform, like a giant skyscraper. He said these cities will have the ability to connect with other “mobile metropolises” if needed.

Needless to say, these highly sci-fi ideas for future cities didn't really take hold for many years. But it is true that there are smart cities built around the latest cutting-edge technology. Although many cities are content with new technology modifications to existing infrastructure — whether it's charging roads for electric vehicles, heavily polluted artificial trees, or automated deliveryrobots——But some cities are taking a bolder approach.

Here are the top five smart cities worth watching in the 2120s:

Japan's “City of Weaving”

Toyota can be found in almost every major city on Earth, or the car you drive now comes from this brand. However, at CES 2020, the Japanese automaker received the most attention due to a statement that it plans to build an innovative new smart city. Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda said that construction of this “woven city” will break ground in 2021.

Photo Source: Video Screenshot

The “City of Weaving” is located at the foot of Mount Fuji and covers an area of about 175 acres of land. It used to be an automobile factory, but it is now closed and will be used as a “living laboratory.” This “future city prototype” innovatively designs streets to test autonomous vehicles, smart home technology, robotics, and new mobile products. All future Toyota employees will live there.

This ideal city is designed to be fully sustainable, powered by Toyota hydrogen fuel cell technology and rooftop mounted photovoltaic panels. As a result, it won't connect to the traditional grid. The construction will be mainly wood, incorporating traditional Japanese joinery into the construction.

Unlike modern cities, “woven cities” weave together three different types of streets or paths, each designed for a specific type of user. One street is dedicated to the passage of faster vehicles. The second type is a hybrid low-speed personal motor vehicle, such as bicycles and motorcycles, and pedestrians. The third is a park-style pedestrian street, which is for pedestrians only.

“The three street types are intertwined to form an organic grid pattern that helps speed up autonomous testing,” Toyota said. “This is my personal 'place of dreams'.” Akio Toyoda added, “'If you build it, people will follow. '”

The residents of the “Weaving City” — which will initially have around 2,000 people — will even have their own internal robots to monitor health and handle certain basic tasks. The city was designed by renowned Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, whose resume includes World Trade Center Tower 2 and Denmark's LEGO House.

Belmont, Arizona, USA

Is it any wonder that Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and who has been the richest person in the world for many years, is happy to donate his wealth to the cause of eradicating world problems and is interested in building a future city to help solve these problems?

This is the idea behind Belmont. Belmont is a smart city in the Phoenix metropolitan area in Arizona. Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates is its investor, with a total investment of about 80 million US dollars. According to the scenario, Belmont's final population size will be about the same as Salt Lake City, with about 193,000 residents.

The investment was made through a group controlled by Gates's investment company Cascade Investment, which purchased shares in a 24,800-acre development in Belmont. The plan will build 80,000 housing units, of which 3,800 acres will be used for industry, office and retail, 3,400 acres for open space, and 470 acres for public schools.

However, the site is currently a 25,000-acre uninhabited desert, which doesn't prevent it from eventually becoming a bustling community with businesses, schools, and 80,000 families. The smart city will feature high-speed networks, data centers, autonomous vehicles, new manufacturing technology, and automated logistics centers.

In a public statement: “Belmont is comparable in size and projected population to Tempe, Arizona, and will transform a pristine, empty city into a marginal city built specifically around a flexible infrastructure model.”

Furthermore, there has been quite a bit of opposition to this project; Arizona is in the midst of an ongoing water crisis. Water Conservation Non-profit OrganizationWestern ResourcesAdvocate's policy manager Drew Beckvis said building another city could strain the state's dwindling water resources even more.

Arizona, California, and most of Nevada share water from Lake Mead on the Colorado River. Since the mid-1990s, the lake's water level has dropped by an average of 12 feet per year. The worst case scenario is that by 2050, up to 40% of the Colorado River may dry up, making parts of Arizona almost uninhabitable, according to a 2017 study.

To legally build in Belmont, developers need to prove that the area has had a reliable water supply for 100 years. There is currently no announcement as to when construction will begin.

Saudi Arabia Neom

Bill Gates's “City of the Future” is facing a water crisis, but what about Saudi Arabia in the desert? The idea was even more whimsical! Sexy robot maids, luminous beaches, artificial rain, huge artificial moons, 100% renewable energy, robotic dinosaurs, and genetic engineering projects to create stronger citizens, and smart cities that come standard with autonomous vehicles, flying cars, and super-fast internet connections.

The above is the future city “Neom” worth 500 billion US dollars being developed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (Mohammed bin Salman) in Saudi Arabia. It was born out of the “Saudi Vision 2030,” which aims to reduce the country's dependence on oil, and will become one of the first smart cities in the world. Neom is a compound word of the Greek word “neos” and the Arabic word “mustaqbal”, with a new meaning for the future.

Photo Credit: Neom

The $500 billion megacity will become a special economic zone. Like the rest of the world, Neom will also have its own laws, taxes, and regulations. It will be 33 times the size of New York City, slightly smaller than Massachusetts, and cover 25,000 square kilometers. This smart metropolis plans to cover a large areasolarBattery panels and wind turbines use only renewable energy for power. Furthermore, it is proposed to extract drinking water from the Red Sea using the most advanced seawater desalination technology.

Neom is in the northwest of the country, connecting Africa, Asia and Europe. 70% of the world's population will arrive within 8 hours, which will make it a global center.

Regarding the high-tech facilities and luxury services provided by Neom, the “Wall Street Journal” described its ambition as “Silicon Valley in the field of technology, Hollywood in the entertainment field, a resort like the French Riviera”.

Malaysia's “Forest City”

“Forest City” is a development project costing 100 billion US dollars and claims to be a “model for future cities.” It is clearly designed as an ecological city, buildings are covered in greenery, and there are no parked cars on the roads. The “Forest City” will be built on four artificial islands in the Johor Strait between Malaysia and Singapore. In total, these projects will provide 14 square kilometres of reclaimed land.

“Forest City” promises to be a “place of miracles,” where “clear blue skies and sounds of nature” take residents back to a time before the miracle disappeared. However, don't think that all of this means no smart technology. In fact, the designers of “Forest City” are planning to build a self-watering garden and science park. If “a window is broken by a local kid with a ball, this window will be repaired before you get home.”

The current estimate is for completion in 2035.

Toronto Sidewalk Lab

The urban innovation organization “Sidewalk Labs” (Sidewalk Labs) of Google's parent company Alphabet is transforming a Toronto waterfront community into a smart city. The 12-acre marina area will feature all-wood buildings, modular paved roads that are easy to rearrange, focus on sustainable energy, convenient car-sharing, heated walkways, road signs, and more. Although Google is behind it, it promises not to collect and sell large amounts of personal information from users, nor to run personal ads similar to “Minority Report.”

Dan Docktoloff, CEO of Sidewalk Labs, said in a statement, “This proposal aims to create an extraordinary east Toronto waterfront: create future communities in the right way, where everything is human-centered, cutting-edge technology, and avant-garde urban design are ambitiously combined to improve the urban environment and the way we live.” Imagine the biggest Google Park in the world, and you might have some ideas about its development.