Shanghai plans to build an "eco-city"

It is here on Dongtan Island that Shanghai plans to build a demonstration eco-city which will ultimately house 500,000 people, designed by the UK engineering consultancy firm Arup. Read original article.

Peter Held's enthusiasm for the Dongtan project is infectious

Peter Head, Arup's project director, says that the project can be a model for the world.

• City of Shanghai government
• Tongji University
  
• Arup

"Significant global climate change, environmental issues, water shortages and the need for the use of cleaner and renewable energy demand the creation of a new approach to urban development," he explained in his office in Shanghai.

The eco-city, to be linked to the mainland by an 18-mile long bridge-tunnel which also spans two smaller islands, will initially house between 20,000 and 50,000 people.

The new eco-city will feature a marina

Conventional cars will be banned in the city centre, while the plans include capturing and purifying water, waste management recycling, reducing landfills that damage the environment, and creating combined heat and power systems.

Mr Head says he has been impressed by the speed and determination of the Chinese authorities, who moved at "three times the speed" of Western planning departments.

China's centralised planning system has been behind the extraordinary transformation of Shanghai in the last decade into a Western-style metropolis.

Development boom

Dongtan is just one of nine new towns planned by the city of Shanghai to relieve overcrowding in a city of more than 20 million people.

The Dongtan wetlands are currently an important habitat for birds

Shanghai also plans to relocate much of its shipbuilding industry - the largest in China - on one of these islands, making space for the WorldExpo 2010 site, while providing employment for many of the island's residents.

And it plans to rehouse many of the 650,000 inhabitants of the island in modern housing, to make room for eco-tourism and eco-farming.

But some observers, such as Professor Chen of Tongji University, think that the local planners are more concerned with raising the income and standard of living of the region than ensuring ecological development.

They say that the new ecologically-sound housing developments may not be affordable by locals and could become suburban housing for the rich.

Living standards are still low on Chongming Island

Already many have been purchased by overseas Chinese.

And they are concerned that the development of shipyards, power plants and bridge- tunnel systems may stimulate rather than retard the over-development of the region.

Certainly in a tour of the project run by Shanghai's planners, growth and expansion of this quiet backwater seemed to be the central theme.

Final obstacle

But ultimately, the development of Dongtan Eco-city is dependent not on ecology but politics.

After the rapid development of the master plan for the city, final authorisation of the funds for the project has stalled.

Arup's Peter Head says the problem is that all big projects are now awaiting approval from the new boss of Shanghai, who was only appointed in March, following the sacking of the former Shanghai Chinese communist party chief in October on corruption charges.

With China's high-profile commitment to showing it is serious about tackling environmental issues, it would be surprising if the project did not go through.

But its contribution to global warming is likely to remain controversial.