The next country to jump on the smart city bandwagon could be Mongolia, with plans for a new eco-metropolis near Ulaanbaatar. However, critics argue that it is little more than a project designed by Germans architects for Chinese investors

Designs for Maidar, a smart city on the Mongolian steppe
Designs for Maidar, a smart city on the Mongolian steppe

This month, Mongolia’s parliament will vote on the feasibility of the construction of a new cultural and religious capital – ‘Maidar’ – out in the steppe 30km from Ulaanbaatar. What started as humble drawings for a model eco-town for 20,000 people has been redesigned as a city for 300,000 in light of a population crisis in the nearby capital city. However, the building of Maidar might be a talking point for everyone except Mongolians.

Maidar has been planned by the German architect company RSAA in collaboration with the Grand Maitreya Foundation and will be built to German environmental standards. With wind and solar farms included in the plans, there are hopes that it will become a beacon of sustainability.

The city will be planned from the centre working outwards in a series of commissioned phases. First, the central Maitreya statue and Buddha complex will be built, followed by concentric hubs for housing, offices, schools, healthcare and tourism. These hubs are intended to become local communities in keeping with the concept that daily services should be able to be reached by a maximum of a 400m walk. Transport will prioritise ‘urban arteries’ for pedestrians, cyclists and small electric buses.