Following in the footsteps of Abu Dhabi's Masdar Initiative, China has recently made plans with Swedish environmental planners Sweco to build a new eco-city in the Tangshan region. It'll start small, only around 30 square kilometers, and will house one million inhabitants with eventual plans for a port and industrial area. It's a 10 million Swedish Kronor deal--about 1.7 million US Dollars, and was formalized by a letter of intent signed by China and Sweden. Quite a contract. Sweco will apparently be acting in the role of consultant to keep the new city as green as possible.
Although that's interesting news, it sort of seems like they're playing catch-up. A brand new sustainable city is a great way to cement ties with Sweden and stimulate international trade, but an article from a mere year ago on ENN reports that more than half of China's population has no treatment for its sewage. I know that things have come a long way in preparation for the Beijing 2008 Olympics, but somehow I'm having trouble believing that 500,000 people got proper latrines in that time. Soon, apparently, they'll even overtake stinkers the USA in terms of emissions. Eco-cities are wonderful things, but it seems like there might be other areas that could use some attention first.
The US hasn't tried the eco-city thing yet, but we do continue to allocate resources for projects that may be more baffling than green. In our own little green urban planning flourish, there are plans to build a massive breakwater off of Chicago and line it with sidewalk, calling it an eco-bridge. It'll create recreational space, be covered in foliage, and even feature a few turbines. How green is it to build on top of an already polluted lake? The answer, apparently: "turbines!"
Following in the footsteps of Abu Dhabi's Masdar Initiative, China has recently made plans with Swedish environmental planners Sweco to build a new eco-city in the Tangshan region. It'll start small, only around 30 square kilometers, and will house one million inhabitants with eventual plans for a port and industrial area. It's a 10 million Swedish Kronor deal--about 1.7 million US Dollars, and was formalized by a letter of intent signed by China and Sweden. Quite a contract. Sweco will apparently be acting in the role of consultant to keep the new city as green as possible.
Although that's interesting news, it sort of seems like they're playing catch-up. A brand new sustainable city is a great way to cement ties with Sweden and stimulate international trade, but an article from a mere year ago on ENN reports that more than half of China's population has no treatment for its sewage. I know that things have come a long way in preparation for the Beijing 2008 Olympics, but somehow I'm having trouble believing that 500,000 people got proper latrines in that time. Soon, apparently, they'll even overtake stinkers the USA in terms of emissions. Eco-cities are wonderful things, but it seems like there might be other areas that could use some attention first.
The US hasn't tried the eco-city thing yet, but we do continue to allocate resources for projects that may be more baffling than green. In our own little green urban planning flourish, there are plans to build a massive breakwater off of Chicago and line it with sidewalk, calling it an eco-bridge. It'll create recreational space, be covered in foliage, and even feature a few turbines. How green is it to build on top of an already polluted lake? The answer, apparently: "turbines!"