Chinese eco-city heralds revolution in urban living
By Francesca de Châtel for CNN
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LONDON, England (CNN) — On an island off the coast of the Chinese city of Shanghai, architects, engineers and contractors are preparing to build a new city later this year. In itself, this is nothing special one would think.
With 20 percent of the world population living in China and national population figures set to hit 1.47 billion by 2020, there is always demand for new housing.
But the city that is to be built on Chongming Island at the mouth of the Yangtze River is like no other in the world: Dongtan eco-city is planned to be first truly environmentally and economically sustainable city.
Situated on a plot of land that is around two-thirds the size of Manhattan, Dongtan is surrounded by wetlands and lies beside a bird sanctuary where hundreds of rare migratory birds seek refuge.
It was these unusual natural conditions that sparked the ambitious idea of creating a new urban concept for an entirely sustainable city that would minimally impact the surrounding environment.
Planning started in 2005, after the London-based engineering and design firm Arup signed a contract with the Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation (SIIC).
“We were asked to create an ‘eco-demonstrator’,” explains Roger Wood, Arup’s project coordinator for the Dongtan project since 2004, “a project that incorporated a number of ideas and design concepts that would increase the Chinese understanding of sustainability.
“China has known about sustainability for 20 years, but — like everyone else — it has just not been able to apply it as a concept.”
The project is to be implemented in several phases, starting with a one square-kilometer plot that is expected to be ready in time for Shanghai’s 2010 World Expo and that will house around 5,000 people. The 6.5 square kilometer start-up area will be developed to accommodate 80,000 people by 2020 and by 2050, the city is projected to cover an area of 30 square kilometers and have a population of half a million.
Building a community spirit
Filed under: building, economics, energy , architecture, China, city, community, eco-density, energy, population, Shanghai, sustainability, urban planning
