Designing a digital and intelligent neighborhood

In China’s hotly competitive real estate market, developers are judged not just on what they build, but on how those buildings perform over time.

Lianfa Group has met that challenge by rethinking the whole idea of what a residential community is. The result is the Lianfa New Youth Smart Community, a model designed for residents who are digitally fluent, environmentally conscious, and demanding about space and service quality.

“New Youth” is not defined by age alone. It describes a generation that expects safety, comfort, sustainability, and intelligent experiences built into everyday life.

To deliver on that promise, Lianfa and Huawei worked to create a unified digital foundation for the community—one anchored by the NewLife OS, a system based on Huawei’s HarmonyOS and developed by Lianfa.

From isolated to integrated

Traditional IoT systems often resemble collections of disconnected gadgets. Cameras, locks, appliances, community facilities, lighting, water supply, electricity, and network systems operate independently, generating data that rarely converges.

NewLife OS breaks down those silos, enabling unified access to devices and synchronizing data across the home, the community, and the broader city environment. More than 2,800 brands and 7,700 smart products can connect through the system.

Behind this integration is a unified AI platform that combines Huawei’s networking, cloud, and data capabilities with Lianfa’s operational expertise, managing multi-site access and data aggregation while lowering construction costs. Pre-integrated cloud and big data infrastructure have cut service deployment time in half, allowing new applications to be rolled out quickly.

Integration efficiency across more than 600 systems and devices has increased by 50 percent, while standardized data models and home and community agents enable real-time visualization of people, equipment, and environmental conditions. Overall operational efficiency has improved by 20 percent.

Homes that respond in real time

In these new homes, technology is both visible and tangible. Visitors can have their coffee poured by a robotic arm, get help from a humanoid service robot, and activate lighting, appliances, and flexible spaces with voice commands.

Lianfa has thoroughly analyzed the needs of smart communities and developed a list of 16 smart community scenarios that fall under four themes: safe, fun, premium, and smart. Based on this list, Lianfa has defined the space needed, common roles, and common behaviors for each scenario:

Safe: This theme covers the six smart community scenarios of community safety assurance, worry-free home safety, care for the elderly and children, pet-friendly communities, seamless and convenient access, and delivery bike–friendly communities.

Fun: This theme covers the five smart community scenarios of neighborhood interaction, super apps, human-machine interaction, real-time life information, and shared space services.

Premium: This theme covers the four smart community scenarios of intelligent parking management, intelligent property management, intelligent environment management, and convenient property services for residents.

Smart: The theme covers the scenario of whole-house smart connectivity, where smart home devices are connected and centrally managed on an intelligent central control screen, with various smart modes available. For example, environmental sensors and air conditioning and ventilation systems work together to maintain optimal indoor conditions. Water, electricity, and gas usage is monitored in real time, and alarms are immediately triggered if any abnormalities are detected.

Even small fluctuations become opportunities for optimization. When late-night water use drops, the system reduces water preheating, saving energy while ensuring that hot water is available during peak hours. When humidity rises beyond a set threshold, ventilation systems increase output. Over time, the smart home system begins to “learn” resident behavior, adapting settings to balance comfort and sustainability.

An invisible butler for the whole community

Beyond individual homes, the system acts as an invisible housekeeper for the entire neighborhood.

In public areas, AI-powered cameras connect directly to access control systems, allowing the community to detect anomalies and respond instantly through on-site processing. Smart terminals and IoT devices coordinate lighting, environmental controls, and shared facilities. Community platforms support services such as on-site cafeterias and group activities, turning neighbors from casual acquaintances into active participants in a collaborative and continuously optimized environment.

A model for future living

The Lianfa New Youth Smart Community has already been implemented in cities including Xiamen, Nanjing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. Lianfa and Huawei plan to expand the model further, aiming to create standardized, sustainable digital communities that evolve over time.

“What we are building is not just a collection of houses, but an evolving, smart neighborhood,” says Dong Shaohua, CIO of Lianfa Group.

As intelligent infrastructure becomes embedded in residential development, the definition of a “good home” is changing. A home is no longer just a physical asset, but an integrated digital and intelligent living system spanning digital homes, smart buildings, and smart communities.