Abstract
In China, the ecocity has become the model for sustainable urban development. When considering that upward of 45% of the population of China may still urbanize within the next 50 years, the issue of developing China’s cities in a sustainable way concerns not only China, it also concerns the world. This chapter first looks at the concept of the ecocity and how it has taken on its own brand identity within China, labeled here as “Ecocity China.” Drawing from various examples, an analysis of “Ecocity China” follows as to how differences in constructing ecocity indicators and urban master plans reflect distinctly different ontological and epistemological approaches to sustainable development. Different than most top-down approaches to ecocity design in China, this chapter looks at a promising example of an incremental ongoing “policy by design” approach to ecocity planning and development. Also emerging from this analysis is the realization that to fully embrace ecocity development requires the adoption of eco-cosmopolitanism ethics by governing institutions. Conclusions from this analysis suggest that moving to a robust ecocity approach will be challenging for status quo Chinese politics and that such planning will necessitate a more experimental approach to urban development and establishment of an information infrastructure and a culture of collaborative communication.
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Notes
- 1.
Ecological footprints are a way to try to measure the impact of humans on ecosystems, as a means to understand whether an ecosystem can sustain the output needed by a local or global population.
- 2.
“A harmonious society advocates an overall, coordinated, and sustainable development concept, making the interests of different sectors balanced. So long as we follow this scientific development concept, we can get rid of social unrest and the destruction of natural resources that generally occurs in developing nations. During this period, we should pay attention to the relationship between humanity and nature, properly protect natural resources, reduce pollution, and make efforts to raise the quality of the environment in order to realize sustainable development (China Daily 2005).”
- 3.
The major challenges to sustainable development in China include the country’s rapid economic growth, primarily fueled by the massive consumption of natural resources; China’s population and internal growth of consumption; interregional differences between economic and infrastructural development (such as between poorer western provinces and wealthier coastal provinces); and a coherent legal system which can quickly process and uphold necessary laws (State Environmental Protection Administration 2004).
- 4.
There are multiple ways to describe pollution, but in terms of air pollution and overall water quality, Chinese cities rank among the world’s worst. For example, according to a World Bank report, China has 20 cities ranked in the top 30 in terms of air pollution, due mainly to the burning of coal and rapid growth in personal automobile use (World Bank 2011).
- 5.
In 2009, the percentage of the population urbanized was 46.1% in China, while it was 82% in the United States, 29.7% in India, and 86.1% in Brazil (United Nations Department of Economic and Population Division Social Affairs 2009). As much as another 40% of the population in China and India will urbanize by the end of the twenty-first century, so the already large cities will continue to grow.
- 6.
“The number of China’s households grew almost three times as fast as its population during 1985–2000, because average household size decreased from 4.5 to 3.5 people. This alone gave China an extra 80 million households in 2000, more than the total number of households in Russia and Canada combined.... China is also becoming more urban. From 1952 to 2003, while its total population “merely” doubled, its proportionate urban population tripled from 13 to 39%. Hence, the urban population increased sevenfold to more than half a billion. The number of cities increased fourfold to more than 660 (including more than 170 with at least one million residents), and the areas of existing cities grew significantly” (Liu and Diamond 2005).
- 7.
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification system developed by the US Green Building Council in 2000 (U.S. Green Building Council 2011).
- 8.
These findings are drawn from personal field notes and direct participation with the Dynamic City Foundation leading up to the launch of “Genetic City.”
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Schienke, E.W. (2012). “Ecocity China”: An Ethos Under Development. In: Christensen, S., Mitcham, C., Li, B., An, Y. (eds) Engineering, Development and Philosophy. Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5282-5_5
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