Liangjiang's Smart City continues to move from concept to reality
Chapman Taylor’s masterplan for the Liangjiang Innovation & Education Smart City, spanning 680 hectares, is now progressing beyond vision into a functioning, living urban environment.
Left: Original concept sketch by Director Chris Lanksbury. Right: Satellite image in 2024.
Conceived initially through an international design competition in 2018, Chapman Taylor’s concept created a blueprint for a sustainable, transit-oriented, ecologically integrated city cluster that integrates higher education, research, commercial zones and public amenities. Today, many of those ambitions are not just ideas on paper, they are actively taking shape across the site.
From sketch to built reality
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University campuses, R&D clusters and mixed-use hubs are now partially operational. Five major university campuses will be constructed with research, commercial, residential and cultural elements.
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Transit systems are no longer theoretical — they’re working. Metro, BRT lines, rail, electric buses and water transport networks serve everyday users across the district.
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Ecological infrastructure is visible and functioning. The central Mingyue Lake, surrounded by green corridors and ecological buffers, form a continuous landscape network that was part of the original vision.
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Innovation ecosystem in action. Over 50 R&D institutions and more than 500 companies are now active on site, and public amenities including Mingyue Lake Hotel and Mingyue Square serve residents, students and visitors.
What lies ahead
While much is already built and operational, the next phase will further strengthen the presence of academic, research, and enterprise partnerships. As more programs emerge, the built environment will continue to evolve to respond to new needs.
When fully developed, Chongqing’s Liangjiang Smart City will stand as a compelling model of how masterplanning, grounded in ecological, educational, and transit principles, can be translated into a dynamic, functioning city district.
Chris Lanksbury, Director at Chapman Taylor, commented:
“This project exemplifies Chapman Taylor’s commitment to not just imagining cities of the future, but to ensuring those ideas manifest in built reality. From the earliest competition stage, our vision for Liangjiang Innovation & Education Smart City was to create a dynamic, sustainable and human-centred urban ecosystem, one that unites education, research, enterprise and living within an integrated landscape. Seeing that concept now materialise across 680 hectares, with universities, businesses and communities actively thriving, is immensely rewarding. It demonstrates how thoughtful masterplanning, grounded in environmental and social principles, can genuinely shape how people live, learn and connect. This is the essence of responsible, forward-looking design, turning vision into place.”