This story originally appeared on WIRED Japan and has been translated from Japanese. Cities are never truly complete and done; instead they are always changing, always evolving. One positive change is the rise of regenerative cities—urban centers designed to have a restorative relationship with the environment that protects and enhances local ecosystems.
WIRED Japan collaborated with the urban design studio For Cities to highlight some of the world’s best sustainable urban developments, which are harbingers of what is to come. From using local materials and construction methods to restoring ecosystems, these projects go beyond merely making green spaces and provide hints of how cities of the future will function as well as how they will be built. Here are some places where the future is now.
Pan Pacific Orchard Singapore (pictured above) In this era of megacities, the Singaporean architectural firm WOHA, founded in 1994, has searched for the best way to make a high-rise green city. The luxury hotel Pan Pacific Orchard was completed by the firm in 2023. Despite being in the midst of a high-density city, it features four landscaped terraces that cover an area equivalent to 200 percent of the hotel’s lot size.
Thanks to its use of both active and passive strategies to reduce energy and water use, the hotel received Singapore’s highest environmental certification, Green Mark Platinum . The firm has also developed its own WOHA Rating System , which uses five indicators (Gr.
