Canadian company Moon World Resorts has revealed plans for a vast Moon smart city masterplan featuring a spherical resort, space tourism training and 10,000 branded homes. Robbie Hodges reports

Moon World Resorts has announced details of its Moon smart city masterplan, a large-scale mixed-use development centred on what it describes as the world’s largest true sphere. The Canadian design studio and intellectual property licensor, headquartered in Toronto, says the first project could open in 2032, with regional licensees targeted across Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Poland, Spain, Thailand, UAE and USA.

The Moon smart city masterplan is designed as a 60-month build-out delivered by a team of 50 international partners. The full site would span two million sqm, equivalent to around 500 acres. At its centre would sit a spherical structure measuring 271 metres in diameter and 312 metres in height.

Inside the sphere, the company plans a fully integrated destination resort. This would include a 4,000-room all-suite five-star hotel, alongside what it calls an “authentic lunar surface and lunar base” attraction positioned on the upper level of the structure. The attraction is designed to welcome up to two million guests annually and forms part of a wider ambition to position the development as a bridge to space tourism.

At ground level, the base of the sphere would contain a convention centre, event spaces, a wellbeing and longevity centre, restaurants, a boutique retail street, educational facilities, a 200-room boutique all-suite five-star hotel, an e-sports centre, ballrooms and business facilities. The company says the wider resort could accommodate up to 10 million visitors per year.

Sandra G. Matthews, co-founder and president of Moon World Resorts Inc., says: “The entire guest experience at Moon has been skilfully designed to carefully curate the highly acclaimed Overview Effect. Wellbeing and longevity form the cornerstone of Moon’s masterplan, as will the inclusion of the sensory environment, transforming guests in a profound, meaningful and memorable way. It is our mission from day one to connect guests to themselves, to others, to planet earth, to the galaxy and beyond.”

Beyond the central resort, the Moon smart city masterplan includes a landscaped park and lagoon, followed by 10,000 luxury branded residences distributed across 16 sphere buildings and 20 tower structures. A panoramic Sky Walk would extend around the outer ring at the top of the towers. Above this, the company plans commercial real estate aimed at tier one companies in the space and aerospace sectors.

Supporting infrastructure would include parking facilities, a transit centre, logistics and management offices, a heliport and vertiport, as well as operational back-of-house areas. The development is described as turnkey, with Moon World Resorts licensing the intellectual property and masterplan to regional partners.

Michael R. Henderson, co-founder and CEO of Moon World Resorts Inc., says: “Occasionally, special projects are created by special people in special places, but rarely do masterplans, including their multiple components, join in perfect cohesive harmony. Moon was conceived out of pure logic and mathematics; everything about Moon is entirely logical and the math pencils out perfectly. Moon already enjoys an unprecedented and overwhelming global pent up demand, indeed Moon is the most anticipated hospitality development project on planet earth.”

The company states that each Moon smart city masterplan would operate at a five diamond level and target LEED Gold accreditation, with a focus on environmental standards and smart city technology. It positions the concept as combining hospitality, residential living, education, entertainment, environmental innovation and space tourism training within a single integrated site.

While no specific site has yet been confirmed, the announcement of multiple target countries signals an ambition to replicate the model in different global markets. If realised, the project would represent one of the most visually distinctive resort concepts currently proposed, reflecting growing interest in immersive, space-themed attractions and large-scale experiential developments.