Dongtan | |
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Coordinates: 31°31′09″N121°55′13″E / 31.519288°N 121.920261°E | |
Country | China |
Municipality | Shanghai |
District | Chongming |
Elevation | 4 m (13 ft) |
Website | www.dongtan.cn |
Dongtan, Shanghai | |||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 東 灘 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | 东 滩 | ||||||
Literal meaning | East Beach | ||||||
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Dongtan was a planned development described as an eco-city on the island of Chongming in Shanghai,China that was never built. Design began in 2005,and by 2010 the development had stalled. Adjacent to booming Shanghai,designers claimed Dongtan would be the world's first truly sustainable new urban development. [1] Dongtan was presented at the United Nations World Urban Forum by China as an example of a purpose-built eco-city. [2]
Reasons for the project's closure include its proposed location in a highly-value wetlands area,tensions between its development partners (Arup,a British engineering company,and Shanghai Industrial Investment,a state-owned developer),and loss of political support (due to the jailing of Dongtan's top political backer,former Shanghai Communist Party chief Chen Liangyu,on corruption charges in 2008). [3]
The project has been described as a failure because it was not built. However,as an example of design it has inspired and informed other cities worldwide. [4] Ideas from Dongtan were incorporated into the renovation of the Chongming District as a net zero island. Dongtan became a model for a subsequently planned eco-city outside Tianjin. [5]
Dongtan was to be located at the east end of Chongming Island,adjacent to the sensitive wetlands of the Chongming Dongtan National Nature Reserve,near the mouth of the Yangtze River and just north of Shanghai. Dongtan's first phase,a marina village of 20,000 inhabitants,was supposed to be unveiled at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. [6] Some questioned the proposed city's potential effects on the surrounding wetlands. The director of the project,Peter Head,insisted it would not affect the wetlands. [7] "First of all,water usually discharged into the river will be collected,treated,and recycled within the city boundaries," he said. "There will be a 2-mile buffer zone of eco-farm between city development and the wetlands." While farming is water intensive,relatively small amounts of water reach the plants themselves. Head said Dongtan "will capture and recycle water in the city and use recycled water to grow green vegetables hydroponically. This makes the whole water cycle much more efficient". [7]
The developers planned to create a fully built city,with 80,000 residents by 2020. [8] London-based Arup and the Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation (SIIC),the city's investment branch,originally partnered to create a master plan for Dongtan,an area three quarters the size of Manhattan. Their brief called for integrated sustainable urban planning and design to create a city as close to carbon-neutral as possible within economic constraints. [6] Project planners estimated a population of 10,000 by 2010 and 500,000 by 2050. [9] [10] [11] [7]
Energy-efficient construction,waste-to-energy systems,and wind power were all part of the original plan. [12] As a strategic partner,Arup was to be responsible for a range of services,including urban design,sustainable energy management,waste management,renewable energy process implementation,architecture,infrastructure,and even the planning of communities and social structures. Peter Head,director of Arup's sustainable urban design,led the project for the firm from its London's office (during design,Arup claims to have offset the emissions of its team's travel to and from the site in cooperation with emissions brokerage firm CO2e). "Renewable energy will be used to reduce particulate CO2 emissions. Transport vehicles will run on batteries or hydrogen-fuel cells and not use any diesel or petrol,creating a relatively quiet city," according to Head's original plan. [7] Other priorities included recycling organic waste to reduce landfills and generate clean energy. [13] [7] Planners in Dongtan planned to put meters in each house to display energy use. [8]
McKinsey &Company was involved in developing the initial vision for the project. [12] The British engineering consultancy firm Arup was contracted in 2005 by the developer,the Shanghai Industrial Investment Company (SIIC),to design and masterplan Dongtan as the first of a planned series of eco-cities. [14]
The 2008 conviction of prominent supporter Chen Liangyu contributed to the project's failure. [15]
The reaction to Dongtan has been mixed. Former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone praised Dongtan as pioneering work leading to a more sustainable future. [16] His sentiments were echoed by other prominent British politicians,including Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. [17]
Critics have argued that Dongtan will not have a big impact on existing Chinese cities,which will still house the majority of the population. [18]
The main designer,Thomas V. Harwood III,is also taking part in many environmentally less friendly projects in China,including airports and office blocks. In 2008,Arup received the "Greenwasher of the Year Award" from Ethical Corporation magazine. [19]
Several sources described the project as a Potemkin village. [19] [20]
Chongming District is the northernmost district of the provincial-level municipality of Shanghai. Chongming consists of three low-lying inhabited alluvial islands at the mouth of the Yangtze north of the Shanghai peninsula: Chongming, Changxing, and Hengsha. Following its massive expansion in the 20th century, Chongming is now the 2nd-largest island administered by the People's Republic of China and the 2nd-largest in Greater China, after Hainan. Chongming does not, however, administer all of the island: owing to its continual expansion from sediment deposited by the Yangtze, it has merged with formerly separate islands and now includes Jiangsu province's pene-exclave townships of Haiyong and Qilong. Chongming proper covers an area of 1,411 km2 (545 sq mi) and had a population of 637,921 at the time of the Census 2020.
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Sustainable urban infrastructure expands on the concept of urban infrastructure by adding the sustainability element with the expectation of improved and more resilient urban development. In the construction and physical and organizational structures that enable cities to function, sustainability also aims to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the capabilities of the future generations.
The Singapore Green Plan (SGP) was created in 1992 to ensure that the economic growth model of Singapore does not compromise the environment. The SGP sets out the strategies, programs and targets for Singapore to maintain a quality living environment while pursuing economic prosperity. The focus areas in the SGP are led by a main coordinating committee and respective action program committees. Since 1992, the SGP has been continuously updated to ensure its relevance, releasing SGP 2012 in 2002 and SGP 2030 in 2021. The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are correlated or mapped to the SGP.
An eco-city or ecocity is "a human settlement modeled on the self-sustaining resilient structure and function of natural ecosystems", as defined by Ecocity Builders. Simply put, an eco-city is an ecologically healthy city. The World Bank defines eco-cities as "cities that enhance the well-being of citizens and society through integrated urban planning and management that harness the benefits of ecological systems and protect and nurture these assets for future generations". Although there is no universally accepted definition of an 'eco-city', among available definitions, there is some consensus on the basic features of an eco-city.
Environmental impact design (EID) is the design of development projects so as to achieve positive environmental objectives that benefit the environment and raise the stock of public goods.
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A green-collar worker is a worker who is employed in an environmental sector of the economy. Environmental green-collar workers satisfy the demand for green development. Generally, they implement environmentally conscious design, policy, and technology to improve conservation and sustainability. Formal environmental regulations as well as informal social expectations are pushing many firms to seek professionals with expertise with environmental, energy efficiency, and clean renewable energy issues. They often seek to make their output more sustainable, and thus more favorable to public opinion, governmental regulation, and the Earth's ecology.
Environmental policy in China is set by the National People's Congress and managed by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China. Under the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China, the Department of Policies, Laws, and Regulations is in charge of establishing and strengthening basic laws and policies such as environmental laws, administrative policies and economical regulations. It is also responsible for the development of national environmental protection policy and macro strategy.
Eco-towns are a government-sponsored programme of new towns to be built in England, which are intended to achieve exemplary standards of sustainability.
The Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city is a planned city developed jointly between the governments of China and Singapore. Located in Binhai, the project was deliberately built on "non-arable" land with a "water shortage" to the southeast of Tianjin's urban core, for the declared purpose of serving as a "demonstration that sustainable urbanisation could be achieved despite difficult environmental challenges". The city's site spans an area of 30 square kilometres (12 sq mi), and houses approximately 100,000 people as of April 2019. The city initially planned to house 350,000 people by 2020, but, as of 2021, still aims to house that amount at some point in the future.
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An ecodistrict or eco-district is a neighborhood, urban area, or region whose urban planning aims to integrate objectives of sustainable development and social equity, and to reduce the district's ecological footprint. The notion of an "ecodistrict" insists on the consideration of all environmental issues, via a collaborative process.
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