City has yet to receive application and plan would face challenges

The vision is out of science fiction: massive towers connected by elevated walkways several stories above the ground; futuristic recreation centres; a farmers’ market that resembles Beijing’s National Stadium.

The idea is that 40,000 people would live in the self-contained city. The purported location? Auguston. Yes, Abbotsford’s Auguston.

A Hong Kong-based architectural firm constructed the vision for “We Town” – which they describe as “a sustainable city for 40,000 residents” – for Auguston Town Developments. A YouTube video and accompanying drawings show more than 12 highrises in a development that, the concept suggests, would be located adjacent to Auguston, Ledgeview Golf Club and McKee Road.

The concepts have won a pair of planning awards.

The drawings do not suggest solutions to the challenges of the site, including the creek that runs through the area or the nearby Trans Mountain Pipeline, the expansion of which has been in the works for years. There is also no indication of how We Town would be integrated into the rest of Abbotsford, or the surrounding neighbourhoods.

The addition of 40,000 residents – not to mention the construction of such a project – would seem to require massive upgrades to city infrastructure and roads. It would also conflict with current land-use plans for Abbotsford and the 2016 Official Community Plan.

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A spokesperson said further information is unavailable at the present time as “this concept is still in the early days.”

The city has not yet received an application for the site, according to online records.