China building "Eco City" to prove model alternative - Polidicks

[quote] [img]http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/anartistsimp.jpg[/img] An artists impression of an "eco-city" which is now under construction near the port city of Tianjin in northeastern China. Top leaders in Beijing hope the project will serve as a model for a long-term solution to the country's ballooning urban population, which is putting enormous pressure on already strained water and energy resources. [/quote] At a construction site in northern China, a billboard boasts of a "liveable city" where residents can drink tap water, travel on clean energy public transport and enjoy acres of parkland. For now, the ambitious "eco-city" covering 30 square kilometres (11.6 square miles) of non-arable salt pans and former fishing villages has more cranes than wind turbines and will not be finished for at least another decade. But its developers hope the settlement near the port city of Tianjin will serve as an ultra-efficient alternative to ill-planned and heavily polluting mega-cities not only elsewhere in the country, but around the world. "We hope to influence our neighbours," said Goh Chye Boon, chief executive of Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Investment & Development Co. "With the right ingredients, with the right eco mindset, I think together we can change the environment." The governments of China and Singapore have combined their expertise and finances to develop the future city, which has a planned population of 350,000 and includes schools, medical facilities and business districts. Foreign companies such as Japan's Hitachi and Dutch electronics giant Philips will provide green technology for the development, where buildings will be insulated and have double-glazed windows to increase energy efficiency. Nearly two-thirds of household waste will be recycled and 20 percent of the city's power will come from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar -- with the rest coming from other sources such as highly polluting coal. Treated sewage will be channelled into a lake which will supplement water supplies for local communities. "Eco-cities are needed because China is facing a huge challenge of pollution," said Hiroaki Suzuki, a top specialist in the Finance, Economic and Urban Department of the World Bank, which is assisting on the project. "China's serious pollution problems do not mean that it cannot develop an eco-city." [quote] [img]http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/visitorslook.jpg[/img] Visitors look at a model of an "eco-city" which is now under construction near the port city of Tianjin in northeastern China in September 2010. Greenpeace supports the development of "eco-cities" as a way to handle urban overcrowding, which it says could prevent China from curbing its world-leading carbon emissions and meeting its ambitious energy targets. [/quote] Top leaders in Beijing also hope the project will serve as a model for a long-term solution to the country's ballooning urban population, which is putting enormous pressure on already strained water and energy resources. China is undergoing an unprecedented urbanisation process as hundreds of millions of people have headed to fast-growing metropolitan areas since the nation's economy embarked on a fast-paced growth track more than 30 years ago. To handle the massive influx of people, China may need to invest up to 3.6 trillion dollars in urban infrastructure by 2020, state media said last month, citing a report by the state think-tank China Development Research Foundation. Greenpeace supports the development of "eco-cities" as a way to handle urban overcrowding, which it says could prevent China from curbing its world-leading carbon emissions and meeting its ambitious energy targets. "It's a really good idea because that is where change has to happen," Yang Ailun, climate and energy campaign manager for the environmental watchdog in China, told AFP. But Yang cautioned it was very difficult for Beijing to develop truly low-carbon cities when there was no clear definition of the term and the country was still developing. China has already broken ground on a separate ecologically friendly settlement that has yet to been finished. In 2005, former British prime minister Tony Blair and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed the two countries could collaborate on building the world's first so-called "eco-city" Dongtan, near Shanghai. The "city of the future" was meant to be showcased at this year's World Expo in Shanghai but the settlement remains in the planning stages. [quote] [img]http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/atruckdrives.jpg[/img] A truck drives into the site of an "eco-city" which is now under construction near the port city of Tianjin in northeastern China in September 2010. For now, the ambitious eco-city covering 30 square kilometres (11.6 square miles) of non-arable salt pans and former fishing villages has more cranes than wind turbines and will not be finished for at least another decade. [/quote] Plans for dozens of other low-carbon "eco-cities" and towns are springing up around the country, as developers rush to cash in on the green movement and government authorities seek to attract foreign investors to their regions. China recently carried out low-carbon technology pilot projects in five provinces and eight municipalities, with the aim of rolling them out nationwide, said the country's chief climate change official, Xie Zhenhua. "We hope that through our concerted efforts, we can work out incentives and policy measures that support upgrading of technologies and changing people's consumption patterns," Xie told reporters this week. Goh insists the Tianjin development will not be another Dongtan -- construction of the first stage is under way, with the first batch of apartments on sale and residents due to start moving in as early as next year. "We are far from the Dongtan example -- we have got over the masterplan stage and are executing it now," he said. When AFP visited the sprawling site, several buildings were under construction, some streets had been paved and marked, trees planted and wind-solar powered street lights erected. But it is a long way from the miniaturised model on display in the exhibition hall, which shows hundreds of high-rise buildings surrounded by 1,500 hectares of parks and wetlands, broken up by crystal-clear waterways.

the first pic looks pretty badass

Well it's good in principle. But they will still have an overcrowding problem, no matter how eco-friendly the cities are.

Well even if this goes through they are still the most polluting country on the planet. They have acid rivers...

For some reason it seems like a lot of people lost their/are going to lose their homes to clear land for this project.

Well, I wish them the best of luck. I still think super industrialized/polluted cities look cooler though. Shiny glass towers and green parks sound a little too preppy and bland.

[QUOTE=cqbcat;25205978]Well, I wish them the best of luck. I still think super industrialized/polluted cities look cooler though. Shiny glass towers and green parks sound a little too preppy and bland.[/QUOTE] [img]http://www.hydroconseil.com/ang/images/articles/maputo.jpg[/img]

It looks very ambitious but i hope they go through with it

Seems like a good cause and plan from the Chinese!

Having been to Tianjin myself, I am very intrigued to see how this turns out. They've picked a nice spot, that's for sure.

[QUOTE=Helix Alioth;25206035][img]http://www.hydroconseil.com/ang/images/articles/maputo.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] Naw, I'm thinking more of a city like this: [img]http://blog.totalactivemedia.nl/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/future-city.jpg[/img] Perhaps that's too much sci-fi, but I like hyper-capitalistic, dystopian cities where the rich live in the clean upper levels while the poor live in the gritty/polluted/high crime lower levels.

[img]http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/anartistsimp.jpg[/img] oh fuck that is so so god damn cool I hope they eventually do something like this [editline]10:50PM[/editline] greenery and skyscrapers ftw

I love nature. Nature+Science=Badassery

All the houses should power themselves with wind or solar and each skyscraper should have a floor dedicated to growing plants for food. Add in rain water collection systems and then you got a good eco city.

I remember this. This is like the 3rd time they've done this. Their last attempts, because they ran out of funding, ended up in little single story shacks with tiny solar panels that barely powered their houses.

I would much rather like to live on these: [img]http://www.funis2cool.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/lilypad-floating-city-03.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.funis2cool.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/lilypad-floating-city-01.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.funis2cool.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/lilypad-floating-city-02.jpg[/img] There's a LOT of open ocean out there that can be utilized. Solar Power, and throw in a big fat nuclear reactor on it. I know what you're thinking... But that's radioactive. Not really, if you think about it. A Nimitz class Nuclear Aircraft Carrier has a range of 20 years. You know it's efficient if you get Years to the gallon (Not literally) Nuclear Power is the future. As soon as we find a way to make it small and light so that it can be used in anything a battery is used in, we'll be good to go. And that's not too far off. The one's in our Submarines are as large as a car, They're already experimenting with small dime-sized batteries using the same concept

China are fond of erecting entire cities overnight. Give it a decade or two and it might offset the sheer amount of everything used in construction.

We all know it will turn into this eventually. [IMG]http://files.artlung.com.s3.amazonaws.com/artlung.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/blade-runner-bmw-ad-scaryideas-com-print-7446.jpg[/IMG]

[QUOTE=Helix Alioth;25206035][img_thumb]http://www.hydroconseil.com/ang/images/articles/maputo.jpg[/img_thumb][/QUOTE] That's probably what the "eco city" is going to look like anyways.

[QUOTE=Mabus;25208517]We all know it will turn into this eventually. [IMG_thumb]http://files.artlung.com.s3.amazonaws.com/artlung.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/blade-runner-bmw-ad-scaryideas-com-print-7446.jpg[/IMG_thumb][/QUOTE] Or this; [img]http://www.gossipgamers.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/brink-game-590x331.jpg[/img]

All that pollution put into make it, probably won't repay itself.

I have a friend who went to china. Says it's basically one giant layer of smog, no matter where you go. So good idea, bad location.

I hope more countries follow this example!

[QUOTE=mastermaul;25210554]I have a friend who went to china. Says it's basically one giant layer of smog, no matter where you go. So good idea, bad location.[/QUOTE] Yeah I spent a few weeks in Beijing, it's smog central but I loved it, along the Chinese coast however that's city building ground son. [IMG]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh55/111CC111/China09128.jpg[/IMG] Tis' smog. the pic is also real I took it from the CCTV tower.

I Wish them best of luck, I don't see it happening though.

Hope they succeed. That would be nice.

Green city but no green roofs :raise:

The small scale model looks like the city can hold around 10,000 people, when the number of people who live in China and can afford to live in such a city is much less

Beijing was the epitome of concrete jungle.

I have to admit that first picture is absolutely beautiful.