China's cities are notorious for their appalling air quality and their poor quality open spaces due to mass urbanisation and sprawling.

The Government of China have chosen a Chicago-based designers from Adrian Smith + Gordin Gill Architecture, to design an entirely new suburban city named the "Great City" on the outskirts of Chengdu in southwest China.

The designers have marked a 1.3 km2 circle surrounded by 1.9 km2 of farmland and parks, where the city will be built.

Within the 1.3 km2 city area itself, 15 percent of land will be devoted to parks and landscaped space. Another 25 percent will be allocated for infrastructure, and the final 60 percent of land will hold tall, glass-and-steel tower blocks.

It is expected that 80,000 people will live in the Great City, which would give it a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometre. If people need to get out of the Great City, there are public transportation stations on the permiter and in the middle.

With the design, residents won't need cars because everything is within a 15-minute walk of the city centre.

With the emphasis on fitting as many people as possible into as small a space as possible while still making a city that offers a great place to live, work and raise a family, the city is expected to use 48 percent less energy and 58 percent less water than a conventional development of similar population. It will also produce 89 percent less landfill waste and generate 60 percent less carbon dioxide.

Furthermore, if the model is successful, the Great City will be copied on the edges of China's other megalopolises.

Photo by Hyunwon Jang on Unsplash