SELF-SUFFICIENT: The Dongtan eco-city near Shanghai will be powered entirely by renewable energy sources. -- PHOTO: ARUP
ECO-CITIES, sustainable cities, low/zero carbon towns. They may have different names, but they all aim to achieve sustainable growth.
In recent years, foreign players have rushed in, offering to partner local governments or developers in China to build ecologically-friendly cities.
Such projects open up business opportunities and are a good avenue for foreign countries to publicise their firms' technologies, as well as their urban planning and design expertise. Some current projects:
On Chongming island near Shanghai, British engineering firm Arup hopes to complete the first phase of the Dongtan eco-city in time for 2010, when Shanghai hosts the World Expo. It has teamed up with the Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation, one of China's biggest property developers, which is controlled by the Shanghai government. Singapore and China will break ground on a joint eco-city in Tianjin in July. It will house 300,000 people when completed, and 90 per cent of them will use public transport, cycle or walk to get around. Southern Shenzhen city has awarded the design of its Guangming eco-city to an Austrian architectural firm. GTZ, an international enterprise for sustainable development under the German government, is helping to plan eco-cities in Yangzhou and Changzhou, cities in eastern Jiangsu province. In Mentougou, a western district of Beijing, work will start this month on an 'high-tech' eco-city conceptualised and designed by the Technical Research Centre of Finland, a research organisation under Finland's Ministry of Employment and Economy. Another two projects, one in Langfang in Hebei province and in Gegu town, in Tianjin, are close to taking off. The French Developmental Agency is working on a masterplan for Guiyang city, capital of Guizhou province, with support from the World Bank. One objective is to reduce the carbon footprint of the city of 3.5 million in the longer term. The World Wildlife Fund is advising a green building project in Shanghai, and helping Baoding city in northern Hebei province rely more on solar energy.