Artificial intelligence is about to change people’s daily lives in Xuhui District with the creation of the city’s first AI town.

Work has begunin theBeiyang area on a development that will feature AI firms, labs and a residential community which will experience autonomous driving, parcel delivery by drones and facial recognition.

Beiyang AI Town, covering 543,000 square meters along the Dianpu River and the city’s Outer Ring Road, will feature firms involved in new materials, biological industry and intelligent manufacturing.

According to a blueprint released yesterday, AI and big data technologies will be applied in the town’s urban information and public infrastructure as well as public service facilities. It will become a demonstration area for AI applications in medicine, finance, transport, media and business.

The site in the Huajing Town, formerly known for the Beiyang wharf, an industrial port, will preserve some of the warehouses, cranes and other industrial relics and convert historical structures into education centers and commercial facilities.

The cranes along the river will be preserved as landmarks and key attractions for the waterfront public activity space.

The 1 million square meters of construction to be built will includeresearch facilities, apartments for rent and social service and education centers.

The community will mainly accommodate employees of high-tech companies.

A U-shape ecological belt has been planned along the Dianpu and Beiyang rivers as well as the Outer Ring Road greenbelt. It will include pedestrian paths, public squares, parks and other activity space.

A group of high-rises over 100 meters tall will be built along Huafa Road near future Metro Line 15 stations.

The AI town is part of Xuhui’s “T-plan” to further support the development of AI firms and attract more to the district. The “T-plan” stands for Top and Tomorrow, (AI) Tower and Town, as well as Tech and Talent, according to Fang Shizhong, the district’s director.

In another key project, a 200-meter-tall landmark building, the AI Tower, has been completed on Longyao Road in the West Bund waterfront to become a global AI development and exhibition center.

Xuhui housesa quarterof the city’s key AI companies, including Tencent, Netease, Xiaomi, Microsoft and Amazon. The 2019 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, the second of the annual fair, will be held in the West Bund at the end of August.