Author | Patricia M. LicerasIn 2014, the Italian architect and urban planner Stefano Boeri presented his metropolitan reforestation project called Vertical Forest in his hometown, Milan, with two huge towers that are home to 700 trees, 11,000 plants and 5,000 shrubs. Since then, his concept of bosco verticale, constantly being reviewed and updated, has been exported to other places in the world and it is now coming to one of the most visited places in Mexico and the Caribbean: Cancun.Cancun has gone from being a fishing village in 1974 surrounded by virgin jungles and deserted beaches to one of the most famous tourist destinations in the world. The construction of hotels has left a very different landscape to the original one, but now, the Boeri studio is designing a new Cancun, a pioneer in smart and sustainable developments that provide a balance between mass tourism and nature.
A botanical garden in the shape of a city

Self-sufficient in producing food and energy
The feasibility of a city is based on a circular economy. Therefore, the urbanised area will be surrounded by solar panels and farmland, which will enable it to be fully self-sufficient in producing food and energy. The use of solar power and farmland that will boost local trade and community life.In terms of transport, it includes its own electric and semi-automatic mobility system, which will enable cars to be parked outside of the city.Water will be another key issue: from irrigation via embedded systems to the installation of a desalination plant to take advantage of seawater, as well as the construction of channels to sail around the complex and which will work as “water gardens” that will protect it against potential flooding, given its proximity to the sea.But a Smart City after all
