Zhang Jian, a thirty-something staff member of Shanghai Baoye Group (SBG) Co. Ltd., a Shanghai-based industrial engineering enterprise, is a native of Xiongan New Area, in Hebei Province. Working on residential building projects in the area, he has witnessed its rapid development over recent years.

"I have benefited from the area's growth. Xiongan has rich geothermal resources and has been exploring ways to heat homes with this form of green energy. My house has geothermal heating installed and that can bring the indoor temperature in winter to 28 degrees Celsius. In addition, the area now also has parks and more other infrastructure," Zhang told Beijing Review.

On April 1, 2017, the Chinese Government announced the plan to establish Xiongan New Area so as to relieve Beijing of functions nonessential to its role as the nation's capital and to boost the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. According to the plan, Xiongan will be a green city featuring innovative and high-quality development.

By the end of 2021, construction had begun on 177 key projects in Xiongan, with a total investment of over 600 billion yuan ($94.1 billion). The major roads to the area, the main streets in the area, the urban green areas, and the urban water system have all taken shape. After five years of construction and development, a smart and green Xiongan is spreading its wings.

Brainy design

Xiongan aims to become an intelligent city and an innovation hub. Infrastructure construction has been advancing to improve the connection between the area and neighboring regions. As Chen Zhiguo, manager of SBG's residential building project in Xiongdong District of the area told Beijing Review, the railway network in Xiongan has gradually taken shape since he went there in 2019. At the end of 2020, the Beijing-Xiongan intercity railway opened with the completion of Xiongan Railway Station. It now takes only 50 minutes to travel from Beijing to Xiongan, which has increased transportation convenience and efficiency.

Intelligent design is being incorporated into Xiongan's infrastructure. Big data and drones are being used in the area's construction, and smart trash cans which can identify types of garbage for automated sorting and recycling have been introduced in the city, Chen said.

Smart lampposts have also been installed throughout Xiongan. The lamps can automatically adjust their brightness in line with weather conditions to reduce costs. Some lampposts are equipped with cameras that can collect traffic data, and systems for making emergency calls. Xiongan has also developed China's first city-level blockchain system, and a cloud computing center for big data services.

E-commerce enterprise JD.com has launched unmanned supermarkets in Xiongan, where customers can pay via facial recognition. Wireless charging piles for electric vehicles are also in place today.

Chinese tech firms such as Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu have settled in Xiongan because of its potential in the hi-tech field. China's three major telecom operators—China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom—have also launched operations in Xiongan with the aim of developing smart infrastructure.

China Unicom has provided 5G technological support for automated retail, cleaning, delivery and patrol vehicles in Xiongan as part of efforts to develop it into a smart area. As of late March this year, it had established approximately 700 5G base stations in Xiongan. The company aims for Xiongan to be fully covered by the 5G network by the end of this year.

Livable city

Creating a better living environment is another focus of Xiongan's development. Residential and commercial buildings, as well as schools and hospitals, are spaced in ways to form commercial circles people can reach within 15 minutes—all for the sake of convenience.

SBG's residential project in Rongxi District of Xiongan, initiated in January 2021, will be completed at the end of this June. It will accommodate around 4,000 households that were relocated for the construction of railways, Xu Zijing, manager of the project, told Beijing Review. According to Chen, the project in Xiongan's Xiongdong District will wrap up in late April this year and will be able to accommodate approximately 350,000 people.

The design and construction of the project has also been carried out with efforts to reduce energy consumption and pollution. SBG's construction team has dug ditches to channel water away from the construction site, and then later sprays this into the air to reduce the presence of dust particles.

The company has also worked on the construction of a temperature regulation system that uses solar energy to supply cold air, heating and electricity to 80 percent of the population in the residential and commercial zones of Rongdong.

It has further built a semi-underground garbage processing facility in Xiongxian County. The facility, the deepest one in China, is established underneath a park.

According to Zhang, much of Xiongan's infrastructure is built underground, including water, electricity, heat and network facilities. The pipelines that run beneath the area are all monitored and managed through an integrated system.

The city is also transforming itself into a sponge city. The drainage system used for the area's roads collects and recycles rainwater for citywide reuse, Chen said. 

(Print Edition Title: Sustainable Savviness)

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson

Comments to lixiaoyang@cicgamericas.com