Unique Green Scheme Planned For Chonging

These extraordinary images are the first glimpse of a unique proposal for the Chinese city of Chongqing.

Designed by COBE and Chongqing University, the conceptual project is called Magic Mountains and inspired by the nearby peaks that over-look Chongqing, inspiring the local nickname, Mountain City.

Magic Mountains might sound like a level from Sonic the Hedgehog but it's conceived not as a CBD but as GCBD. The Green Central Business District is an acroynm we might all be getting used to as the environment moves up the political ladder of importance.

In this case the designers have gone out of their way to transform the traditional concept of a Chinese neighbourhood into an eco-friendly green vision and avoid many of the problems industrialisation is giving them.

The mountain peaks are designed as high density accommodation whilst the green areas inbetween are the "living machine" renewable energy and providing water. An underground rootzone is planned to act as a natural cleaner for the wastewater generated by inhabitants that will then flow into the Yangtze River and Jialing River.

Each of the mountains is linked up with a series of bicycle and pedestrian pathways and an extensive public transport system in an attempt to make the motorcar redundant with the highlight being a 5.5 km long monorail loop that will link up the main points of each of the nine neighbourhoods.

Everything in the area will be planned with a hexagonal distance grid like a honeycomb to be within easy walking distance of everything else and every occupant will be no more than five minutes walk from a monorail station.

This efficient planning regime for the project will reduce the energy requirements by 22% whilst at the same time providing no less than 11% of the total requirements from renewable sources. The buildings even have padoga style roofs and are massed to drive down wind gently to allow the windmills to create energy.

The site of the project occupies 2.2 square kilometres of space and can take up to 15.4 million square metres of new development. 60% of this will be new office space, 25% housing, 15% retail and 5% dedicated to power generation.

It's intended that a third of the total site will be entire green. Having been conceptualised as a closed loop, it should be difficult for cars to even enter so little groundspace is needed for roads. Instead nature can exist between buildings without being paved over to carry massive traffic levels.

Magic Mountains shows that the Chinese are capable of forward looking and revolutionary developments as a way of coping with the massive strains that their industrial revolution is placing on the environment. In the case of Chonqing, possibly the fastest growing city on the planet, the stresses are greater than most Chinese cities as the municipality booms at such a speed observers are unable to keep up.

The chances of it going ahead aren't the best but in a country that's building a 254 metre tall lamp to celebrate their lighting industry, even the maddest developments can sometimes go-ahead and amaze the world.