The high-tech cities of the future

If Saudi Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman gets his way, the planned new city of "Neom" will be the world's safest, most modern and most efficient. He wants to see $500 billion (€404 billion) pumped into this new special economic zone, located near the Red Sea. The aim is for the high-tech city to create jobs for young people and to have its own jurisdiction.

Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates, an ecological, high-tech city, was supposed to be finished by 2016. That "opening date" has been scrapped, as has the erstwhile goal of making it completely emissions-free. The city is now expected to be completed by 2030. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is there already, as is Siemens, but ordinary residents have yet to move in.

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia tends to choke on smog and traffic. A new city called Maidar, south of the capital, is to be built to ease the situation. According to the plans of Cologne architect Stefan Schmitz, 300,000 people are to live there eventually in a climate-friendly environment. The hallmark of the stone desert city will be the world's largest Buddha statue.

Lingang New City, near Shanghai, is intended to become a new economic hub. Hamburg architects Gerkan, Marg & Partners designed the would-be city, which is slated to provide affordable housing for 800,000 people. Jobs for those residents are to be provided via a high-tech research center, the Yangshan container port and an affiliated free trade zone.

A six-square-kilometer building plot was piled up in the ocean for the South Korean city of Songdo, which aspires to become the world's smartest city. Some 100,000 people already live there, most of them wealthy. Everything from traffic to police to private homes is digitally connected and fitted with cameras and sensors.

In the outskirts of Lagos, dredgers are piling up building land for a luxurious financial center which will also house around 250,000 people. Eko Atlantic City will include shopping malls, a marina and high-rise buildings. With more than half of all Nigerians living in poverty, critics of Eko Atlantic view the city as a secluded pleasure ground for the rich.

According to its homepage, Microsoft founder Bill Gates is behind the plans for Belmont Smart City in the US state of Arizona. Located 43 miles (70 kilometers) from state capital Phoenix, it is hoped that the city will accommodate 200,000 people. Still in its infancy, the project is seen as a test case for assessing the interaction of "smart" concepts, from the home to the workplace to the city.

Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc, is creating a new district in Canada. Digitally connected in several ways, 10,000 people may one day live here. Quayside, Toronto is to collect a wealth of digital data about its future inhabitants. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pictured here, approves.