Would you prefer Gelephu or Neom?

The kingdom of Bhutan is planning a "mindfulness city" that will cover some 2.5 per cent of the country—an area larger than Singapore.

- SANDEEP GOYAL

Plans show the 1,000-square-kilometer city will be built near the town of Gelephu, along Bhutan's southern border with India.

The Gelephu Mindfulness City will serve as an economic hub and gateway for tourists to the rest of the country. Bhutan's King Jigme Wangchuck said that his country is "not trapped by legacy and can innovate swiftly".

Bhutan's largest city and capital, Thimphu, is just 26 square kilometers in size—so the new city is a big dream forward.

Gelephu Mindfulness City rethinks how modern cities ought to look, function, and serve the needs of their residents. The masterplan for the new dreamopolis shows a low-to-mid-rise metropolis built around a series of inhabitable bridges. Each bridge will "house" key features of the city: A new international airport, a university, a healthcare facility for Eastern and Western medicine, a hydroponic greenhouse, a cultural centre, a spiritual centre, a market for local goods, and a hydroelectric dam.

The Sankosh Temple Dam will have staircases leading to an elevated temple, which many have likened to "a 21st century Tiger's Nest". The planned city will have 11 "ribbonlike neighbourhoods" that will incorporate the area's 35 rivers and streams.