NBBJ has been selected to design Net City, a 2 million-square-meter master-planned district along Shenzhen's Dachanwan Port for Tencent, the largest internet company in China. The concept for Net City builds on the idea of an urban environment as an interconnected, human-focused organic ecosystem.

"Inter-connected, integrated, organic and welcoming, Net City is designed to be a place where people can dream, come together as a community to connect and create new possibilities for the future," said Jonathan Ward, a Design Partner at NBBJ in a statement.

Tencent's current properties and office space cannot accommodate its rapid growth and in 2019 the internet giant held an international competition to develop a master plan for the 320-acre peninsula along Dachanwan. NBBJ was ultimately selected amongst the participants for its innovation approach to the Net City concept, which puts humans as the forefront.

"A typical city calls for simplistic and efficient zoning to keep everything under strict control and facilitate the flow of goods, cars and people," said Ward. "This principle was driven by a love for the industrial age machine. In today’s computer-driven world, we are free to imagine a highly integrated city that brings ‘work, live, play’ closer together to foster more synergy between people. This fits in perfectly with the collegial, collaborative culture of Tencent."