Melbourne architect CK Designworks has presented a masterplan design for a 20 kilometre square hi-tech city to be built in the Pukou district of Nanjing in Jiangsu Province. The city, which will include housing for 200,000 residents, industrial developments and commercial sectors and is to be built on a combination of greenfields and existing low level light industrial development, is one of the largest design projects ever undertaken in the world.

According to the United Nations Population Fund, more than half of the world’s population was living in towns and cities in 2008. They predict that almost 5 billion will live in cities by 2030. It is the largest urban growth period in history with Africa and Asia being the greatest centres of urban swell.

Across Australia more households have chosen a “concrete change”, to live in a city apartment, as opposed to a “tree” or “sea” change. Although it might seem practical and trendy there are some serious side effects of city living such as being disconnected from nature; and the mere act of walking down a busy city street can fracture our concentration. This stands in stark contrast to the effect of walking in the quiet of parks and bush land.

CK Designworks played host to a delegation of officials from the Jiangsu province of Nanjing, China who came to see what it is that makes Melbourne such a liveable city. In addition to a tour of some of Melbourne's key sporting precincts and residential developments, meetings with acting lord mayor, Susan Riley, Ted Baillieu and Governor Alex Chernov, along with a round-table discussion about Melbourne's world-class position when it comes to liveability were also on the agenda.

CK Designworks has designed a 24-storey industrial and commercial building in China that could become a model for similar buildings elsewhere in the world. The building, which is being a called 'a high rise factory that is one of a kind', aims at new levels of sustainability and environmental conservation for industrial buildings.