The first ecological city will be Chinese

[freddau]

We are in 2010 in Dongtan, the first "ecological city" in the world. Born out of thin air, in the middle of the marshes, the city is located at the eastern end of Chongming, the third largest Chinese island, at the mouth of the Yangzi.

None of the buildings exceeds eight stories. The roofs are covered with grass and green plants to insulate the buildings and recycle the water. The city reserves for each pedestrian six times more space than Copenhagen, one of the airiest capitals in Europe. Clean fuel cell buses connect the neighborhoods. An intranet system plans the duration of the journey and puts in contact the inhabitants wishing to share a car. Traditional motorcycles are prohibited: one circulates on an electric scooter or on a bicycle. The roads have been designed so that it is faster to get to work on foot or by bicycle than by car.
Up to 80% of solid waste is recycled. By blazing in a thermal power plant, organic waste generates part of the electricity. They also burn rice husks, very calorific, abundant in China. In the distance, giant wind turbines, propelled by the sea air, also produce current. Each building has its own small wind turbines and photovoltaic cell panels. The city stretches along a canal. In the heart of a natural reserve of exceptional biodiversity, Dongtan is, in this year 2010, one of the attractions offered to visitors to the Shanghai World Expo. A gigantic bridge-tunnel brings the ecological city and the megalopolis together in forty-five minutes.

Let's go back to 2006. Dongtan's futuristic project responds to an obvious fact: the need for China, carried away in a constructive madness, to privilege henceforth the quality of its growth. This presupposes a radically new, ecologically sustainable urbanization strategy, while the country is going to be the scene of the most spectacular migration in the history of humanity. By 2020, China will have to build 400 new cities, or around 300 a year, to accommodate more than XNUMX million rural people. Hence the desire to create an exemplary city on the island of Chongming.

The project has been entrusted for seven years to the mixed company Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation (SIIC), which called on the design of Dongtan from an engineering consultancy giant, the British Arup. This company, which has been working for 2008 years in China, was involved in the architectural project for the 2005 Beijing Olympic Games. Proof of the political importance of the Dongtan operation: the contract was signed in November 10 at XNUMX Downing Street in the presence of Tony Blair and Chinese President Hu Jintao, visiting London. And two other new "green" cities have been ordered in addition.

For the moment, half a million people live in the district of Chongming, linked to the outskirts of Shanghai by speedboats and ferries. They live in two small towns and a multitude of villages still untouched by the frantic development of the area. A highway, often deserted, already crosses the island. It is here that Dongtan will have between 50 and 000 inhabitants in 80, then 000 in 2010, according to forecasts.

"In twenty years, notes Ma Chengliang, director of SIIC Dongtan, the Chinese economy has grown so fast that we are already suffering from energy shortages. If we want to continue at the same pace, we must resolutely opt for sustainable development. Dongtan must demonstrate what is possible in terms of renewable energies, clean transport and lifestyles. The model was imagined to extend to the rest of Chongming, and to serve as an example for all China." On site, Alejandro Gutierrez, chief architect of Arup, explains: "Dongtan will be a compact city. We will draw inspiration from the Chinese urban tradition, which gives a lot of space to water. The social component will be essential: a population diversified, benefiting from a proportion of affordable housing, at least 30 local jobs, schools and a hospital, to avoid dependence on Shanghai. "

The essential originality of Dongtan is, of course, due to its ecological concept. In his London office, Peter Head, director of Arup, makes an inventory of technical innovations which will allow the city to achieve, he hopes, the objective set: an "ecological footprint of 2 hectares per person, three times more than today in Shanghai, London or Paris ". This "footprint" is a unit of calculation representing the area of ​​land necessary to ensure the survival of an individual.

Surrounded by miles of marshland, a paradise for birds migrating between Australia and Siberia, the Dongtan site wants, for example, to preserve air quality. Cars will therefore not have to emit any carbon particles and hydrogen filling stations will be set up. The demands of urban planners have led Arup engineers to imagine small, light, energy-efficient vehicles capable of driving very close one behind the other to occupy minimal road space. Dongtan also wants to be self-sufficient in energy. This should come entirely from renewable sources: solar, wind, biomass.

Designers know, however, that between this "ideal" project and its realization remain serious questions: "You may well conceive, by design and materials, of housing that allow to consume only two thirds of the energy used In normal times, certain individual behaviors can upset your forecasts. This is where a mixture of regulations, education and price incentives must come into play to motivate the inhabitants and curb the excesses, "explains Mr. Gutierrez.

When the green light is given to Arup's "master plan", probably before the end of 2006, things should go very quickly. The city will be built in less than four years. Can we imagine hundreds, thousands of Dongtan, elsewhere in the world? "No doubt, assures Peter Head. The materials and the forms will be different, but the principles and the method will remain the same." Provided, he adds, that people "believe in this type of project and strongly support it, which is the case in China".

[freddau]

The fuel pill, great as an idea ...... it decreases the interest of the article, right?

[nytros]

I think it's a very good project that should give ideas to other countries.
For fuel cells, ok I agree with you it's not great but it's already a great effort, especially since the hydrogen that will be in it will probably be of ecological origin ...

[gegyx]

The fuel pill, great as an idea .....

I thought it was derision ...

In the article, I did not read, neither a battery, nor a hydrogen pill?
Hydrogen, available to fuel distributors; perhaps for a fuel cell, or directly in an internal combustion engine.

[yahi]

whatever the type of project, "At the heart of a natural reserve of exceptional biodiversity", any space given to man is less space for "a natural reserve of exceptional biodiversity".
moreover if the population goes from 10000 to 500000 inhabitants, there will be a lot left of the reserve!

therefore very bad choice of site! in a swamp! with mosquitoes and birds, fish (s) etc, and future factories and roads, boats, planes, and the whole human race (delighted to have a frog as mosquito repellant )!

it will be green! I promise! an example to follow for all nature reserves in the world!


Does it shock you?

yahi

[freddau]

LOL,

the hydrogen pill, crazy I typed it mechanically me

It is true that men and a nature reserve, it does not always make good household, finally it depends on education.

[bojourvous5094]

Dongtan also wants to be self-sufficient in energy. This should come entirely from renewable sources: solar, wind, biomass.
______
Designers know, however, that between this project "ideal" and its realization remain serious questions:
--Certain individual behaviors can upset your forecasts. This is where a mix of regulations, education and pricing incentives must come into play to motivate residents and stem the excesses "
________
NOTE:
The choice of site may be questionable ...
But for a country which is a big polluter, it is the beginning of the "ecological conscience" ... They will seek the expertise to learn to build in an intelligent way ... They do not take themselves for the best, they hire the best... to teach them "how to do" Before running you have to learn to walk ...
When they have learned, they may come to show us how ... Who knows

[jean63]

While waiting for this wonderful ecological city to see the light of day .... in Pekin it is IRRESPIRABLE (heard on the news this evening) the most polluted city in the world !! they are even asking questions for the next Olympic games. If it does not improve within 2 years, they will mark the history of the games with their urban pollution.

They will have to stop building cities and buying cars ... etc, and it's off to a bad start: in China we build a floor of a building in a week whereas it takes a month in the West to achieving the same floor is to say how quickly the cities are growing there. Before they react to make cities and cars ecological there will have been a lot of CO2 sent into the atmosphere !!

[gegyx]

Super!
Future champions will train in underground car parks, in the middle of traffic jams, in industrial smoke, to get their bodies used to the conditions of the Games.

I'm lucky ! I have all these conditions met, near my home ... There is more than!

[Former Oceano]

Send your address to the French Olympic Committee so that our athletes can train under the conditions of the events!