AI City, the futuristic Chinese city powered by new technologies such as AI, GIS or BIM

Published: 01/02/2021

Country: China

In southwest China, in Chongqing, surrounded by rivers and mountains, AI City is being built. A city chosen as a focus of inspiration for the development of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, networking and Big Data. A futuristic city whose goal is to promote the effectiveness of citizen services through digital interconnections and the use of data extracted from new technologies such as 5G or IoT in a holistic AI system.

The design of this urban project comes from the ingenuity of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), a Danish architectural firm that envisions the campus as an innovation hub that will house the headquarters of the world's leading smart technology services provider, Terminus Group. With the aim of utilizing this digital space, the company has partnered with more than 40 Chinese technology companies including digital systems providers, artificial intelligence labs, live streaming platforms...

AI City will be located in the high-tech industrial development zone of Chongqing City and the first phase to be developed will be the so-called Cloud Valley. A territory of 135,000 m2 that will act as the headquarters of science and technology. In addition, its priority to promote sustainability will be defined in strategies such as eliminating barriers between buildings and nature to create an urban fabric with green outdoor spaces that include natural lighting and ventilation. BIG's proposal consists of establishing two plots along two avenues that, thanks to architectural and urban resources, imitate two different but complementary land reliefs: a concave elevation (mountain) and a convex depression (valley).

Similarly, the traffic strategy will focus on maintaining the same balance between nature and urban development with the use of electric bicycles, robotic vehicles and autonomous cars.

On the other hand, the barriers between human and artificial intelligence will also be eliminated, since public spaces will integrate consumer or leisure spaces such as markets or cafes will integrate AI. Professionals and robots will work in them and invite the rest of the public to meet.

The building of the area is also strategically designed. The fact that it is located between mountains avoids direct sun exposure on the buildings and allows the facade designs to be more transparent than usual. Another peculiarity is the green roofs that extend a significant distance over buildings and public spaces, depending on the orientation of the facade, to avoid radiation from the sun and rain. These are one of the components par excellence since they allow the coexistence between nature and offices and foster the relationship between people, nature, climate and technology.

Integration of intelligent solutions and systems such as GPS, GIS and BIM

In order to improve and make traditional offline systems and spaces more efficient, AI City has implemented intelligent solutions. For example, an automated fire prevention and control system with AI that uses GPS, GIS and BIM as information systems to map fire stations and police units in real time. The goal is more efficient management in work methods by triangulating the closest available units and reducing the risk to workers by increasing preventive measures in structure fires. In addition, these systems make it possible to obtain information on the origin of the fires from the data extracted from the tools.