New Mega Smart City
The Metropolis of the Future is Car Free
In April of 2025, MBH International Architects were approached by private developers, at the behest of city officials from an existing African city (location currently confidential), and were commissioned to investigate and report on the potential of expanding and modernizing the existing old city, into a new CAR FREE MEGA SMART CITY.
These are our guideline recommendations and the city expansion master planning proposals for this process, which includes a 1st phase of 8,492 hectares / 20984 acres, expanding to 16,492 hectares / 40,752 acres. Drawing from our affiliation and alignment with the Washington DC based Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), we proposed the following provisions.
A CAR FREE, 3 Tier development, with Tier 1 forming the new INNER CITY, surrounded by a calculated and balanced mix of other Use Zones such as Healthcare, Residential, Commercial & Retail, Hospitality, Industrial, Educational, Worshiping, and Recreational zones, forming what we have termed the MID and OUTER Cities, all within a walkable and TRANSIT ORIENTED configuration, that form pedestrian friendly and safe urban & suburban environments.
The entire 2 PART guidelines proposal can be viewed at:
PART 1 : Urban Design Principals - This part outlines the advantages and benefits of the CAR FREE CITY and identifies the various Use Zones.
PART 2 : Use Zones Configuration - This part describes how the various Use Zones can be best configured to form a cohesive and pedestrian friendly metropolis.
A new elevated metro rail line through the old city, linking with a new metro network surrounding the new INNER CITY;
The new TRANSIT ORIENTED public transit system will consist of a combination of ICE railway stations at points along the new INNER CITY periphery, linked with the new Metro rail line surrounding the new INNER CITY, integrating all these various Use Zones, into a more sustainable public transit network, consisting of combinations of tramways, metros, cableway pods and drone taxis.
Our guidelines and design features a strong emphasis on the safety of pedestrians, the effective separation of pedestrians from cars and hence the efficient integration of the sidewalk into urban and suburban neighborhoods. We propose the use of a number of methods to separate pedestrians from cars, for the safety and convenience of the new city's pedestrians.
