Smart affordable housing company Planet Smart City has launched its fourth smart project in Brazil. Smart City Aquiraz is on a 200-hectare site 29km from Ceará’s capital Fortaleza and 6km from the popular tourist beach of Praia Bela.
 
It will be home to more than 18,000 residents and easily accessible by public transport.
 
Through its property technology approach, Planet applies its expertise in smart integration, digital technologies, services and social innovation to enhance the quality of life. Embracing digital transformation, the company places its residents at the heart of activities.
 
Its smart, sustainable and socially inclusive communities are supported by the services of the Planet app, Planet’s proprietary digital platform that lets residents engage with each other and the neighbourhood around them.
 
Following the launch of Smart City Laguna, also in Ceará, Smart City Natal in Rio Grande do Norte, and Viva Smart in São Paulo, Planet will invest a total of US$40m to design and develop the new city.
 
Smart City Aquiraz will incorporate Planet’s expertise in bringing together infrastructure, urban planning, sustainability, digital services and social innovation programmes to deliver affordable high quality, low-cost homes.
 
Aquiraz will have a host of social and digital features including a free library, cinema, outdoor fitness areas, cycle lanes, urban gardens, football pitch and shared kitchen facilities for residents as well as technological features such as free wifi across communal areas.
 
“We are excited to further extend our presence in Brazil with the addition of Smart City Aquiraz,” said Susanna Marchionni, CEO of UK-based Planet Smart City in Brazil. “Brazil is one of the top five countries with the largest housing deficits worldwide and, through our projects, we are able to tackle this issue. Aquiraz’s smart affordable homes, valuable services and convenient location near Fortaleza’s tourist hotspots will create a buzzing community for years to come.”
 
 
Construction of infrastructure in the first phase of the development has already been delivered. The city features two-bedroom houses, which will start to be built as soon as lockdown in the state of Ceará is lifted. First residents are expected to move in by the end of 2020.
 
Located on the CE-040 highway, with daily public transport available, Aquiraz provides affordable homes for those who work in the capital as well as Fortaleza’s buzzing tourism industry. Close by is the state’s second-largest hotel park and many beautiful beaches as well as Beach Park, the largest water park in South America.
 
“We are delighted to launch Smart City Aquiraz and have seen great demand from potential new residents,” said Giovanni Savio, global CEO of Planet Smart City. “As with all our cities, it is designed to be inclusive, connected and vibrant, supported by a range of services that encourage shared economics and a new way of community living.”
 
Planet Smart City was founded in 2015 by Italian real-estate experts Savio and Marchionni, and is chaired by physicist and entrepreneur Stefano Buono. Headquartered in London, Planet has raised €100m since inception and plans to launch 30 projects by 2023 with an intermediate milestone of eight large-scale residential projects in 2020.