Stefano Boeri Architects designs “forest city” for Mexico

Italian firm Stefano Boeri Architets has designed a 130,000-resident, 557ha "Smart Forest City" for the Yucatán resort of Cancún in Mexico.

Located on a former planned shopping district, the development will contain 400ha of green space with 7,500,000 plants across 400 species, 260,000 of which will be trees, the rest will be made up of shrubs and bushes.

Each year, the city’s plant life will absorb 116,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Stefano Boeri worked with German company Transsolar to ensure the city will be completely food and energy self-sufficient, thanks to a ring of solar panels around the development. It will also have measures to control water use, including a  canal system and a series of water gardens to fight floods.

Stefano Boeri is working on the development on behalf of Honduran real estate firm Grupo Karim.

Images courtesy of Stefano Boeri Architetti