Anaclaudia Rossbach, executive director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), has praised China's rapid advancements in smart living technologies and sustainable urban planning, saying such experience can be replicated in many other cities in the world.
In an interview with China Media Group, which aired on Friday, Rossbach said she was particularly impressed by prototypes of smart homes in China that demonstrate how technology can revolutionize urban living, especially in compact spaces.
"China is evolving a lot in terms of smart living, let's say so. I visited some prototypes of homes that are impressively smart, and that caught my attention. I thought it was very, very interesting. The prototypes of housing that can maximize the living space in a way that you can use the house in a very smart way in terms of the space that the house offers and how you can transform spaces, even small spaces you can transform, right? And you can maximize the use of a kitchen and the use of the living room and the bedroom, how all is transformed through technology. And you can have the different environments in a very small place," said Rossbach.
She also expressed admiration for China's efforts in building "sponge cities" - an urban planning and water management strategy designed to help cities absorb, store, and reuse rainwater, significantly reducing the risk of flooding.
"I appreciate the concept of the technology of the 'sponge cities' that can be used, if I understand correctly, micro, but also in large scale to help cities being more resilient to floods. This is a concept that other cities in the world are exploring. Right now, there is a project of UN-Habitat. The idea is to bring this concept to Brazilian cities. Brazil had a major flood last year that affected the south part of Brazil - a big city, Porto Alegre. And flooding is affecting many Brazilian cities. So we are now supporting the transfer of this technology to Brazilian cities, but also exploring how it can also be applied here in Nairobi, which is also a city that has been pretty much affected to flooding. I saw this technology being used in Shanghai along the rivers. This is very impressive," said Rossbach.
She emphasized the importance of sharing China's technological expertise with cities around the world, noting China's people-centered development philosophy aligns closely with UN-Habitat's own vision of inclusive, sustainable urban growth.
"I'm very excited. China is advancing a lot in terms of technology. And I think this know-how, this expertise can be very much used in many cities. We produced guidelines on people-centered smart cities. And I think this coincides with the people-centered philosophy from China that we were just discussing before," said Rossbach.
China's smart city innovations inspire global urban solutions: UN-Habitat chief
