Italian architect Stefano Boeri has unveiled plans to create a forested smart city in Cancun, Mexico, that is designed to be a “pioneer” of more eco-efficient developments. Smart Forest City Cancun is intended to be built on a 557 hectare site near the Mexican city. According to the architect, it will contain 7.5 million plants, including numerous species of trees, shrubs, and bushes.
While we’ve seen smart cities get designed in the past, this one of the first that truly makes greenery a central aspect of the city. The project forms of part of Boeri’s Forest City concept – which will see cities made up of plant-covered skyscrapers rolled out across China’s urban areas – and the abundance of greenery is intended to depollute the surrounding environment. Boeri’s firm hopes the project will be built in lieu of a huge shopping mall and reforest a site that was turned into a sand quarry for hotels.
