A key inland alternative to China’s coastal tech centers, Chengdu has emerged as a major science, technology, and manufacturing hub. As part of an international design competition for the city’s Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone organized by a local investment group and the planning bureau, the Chengdu Future Science and Technology City is an achievable visionary model for a next-generation science city, blending business, residential, and academic ecosystems within a highly connected, landscape-driven framework. Spanning approximately 4.6 square kilometers, the district is a center for aerospace, high-end manufacturing, telecommunications, and advanced research, anchored by Chengdu Electronic University, Sichuan University, a national research laboratory, and a transit-oriented development linking Chengdu Tianfu International Airport with the city.

Organized around an adaptive hexagonal grid, the master plan establishes a powerful spatial order that allows for organic growth and flexibility over time. This planning framework integrates industry, housing, and academia, creating an integrated public realm, ensuring community through a continuous network of open spaces.

Landscape is the primary organizing element of the city, with more than 40% of the site dedicated to green space. A layered system of parks and ecological corridors weaves nature into the urban fabric, balancing ecological performance with social life. Automobiles are removed from the interior of the site, with conventional vehicles accommodated in perimeter garages. Within the city, pedestrian and bicycle networks are paired with an autonomous rapid transit system and autonomous pods, prioritizing human-scale movement and clean mobility. This car-free approach enables a calm, walkable environment that seamlessly integrates the built and natural realms, reinterpreting centuries-old urban and landscape precedents through a contemporary, future-oriented lens.