Script: China's rapidly urbanizing population has created an environmental and political crisis
In the past 20 years, the percentage of Chinese living in cities has risen from a quarter to over half the population
There are currently 712 million urban Chinese
Due to its rapid urbanization and industrialization, China became the world's largest producer of carbon dioxide in 2006, and the world's largest consumer of energy in 2010.
This pollution has led to unprecedented levels of urban smog.
Only 3 of China's 74 major cities meet the government's air quality standards
It is estimated that air pollution accounts for over a million premature deaths in China every year.
This pollution crisis has led to an increasingly vocal and dissatisfied citizenry
The government has attempted to deal with this issue through No Car Days, emissions targets, and increased regulations, but one of the most heralded solutions has been the Eco City
The Eco City, an idea first developed in the 80s and 90s to create sustainable and environmentally friendly cities, has become increasingly trendy as the model for the "city of the future."
In 2005, China launched the Dongtan Eco City project, a plan to develop the world's first carbon neutral city on 30 square kilometers of marshland on Chongming Island in Shanghai
The city would reduce its ecological footprint thorugh vertical farms, efficient appliances, insulation, and recycling
It would use solar and wind power, as well as a biomass plant fueled on discarded rice husks.
All vehicles within city limits would have zero emissions, and the city would use fuel cell buses and solar-powered water taxis
The government planned to have 10,000 residents in the city in time for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, themed "Better City, Better Life," with 80,000 residents by 2020
Peter Head, director of the British firm that developed Dongtan, said "The big question is whether it is economically viable"
The project quickly revealed that it was not
Project sponser and Shanghai policitican Chen Liangyu was sentenced to 18 years in prison for corruption in 2006
Dongtan unraveled soon after. Building costs 30-40% higher than in Shanghai, along with a prohibitive commute to the city, made the prospect of living in Dongtan undesirable in reality
Dongtan's environmental benefits were also called into question. The city would have seriously affected the local environment of the island, where one million shore birds pass through every year.
Additionally, Dongtan was projected to house a maximum of only 500,000 people, compared to the 24 million that live in Shanghai
The Ethical Corporation called Dongtan a "Potemkin Village" and a "masterpiece in Greenwashing," created entirely to improve the government's image
This is what Dongtan looks like today - 10 lonely wind turbines in a sea of marshland
The only building, a visitors center, has been shut down.
What is Dongtan's legacy? Over 170 Eco City initiatives are in currently in development around the world, including the massive 10-billion dollar Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco City project. But are Dongtan and Tianjin a real solution for China, part of the quest for what historian Ruth Rogaski calls "wenming weisheng chengshi," or civilized hygenic cities, or are they just the government's attempt to use a flashy idea to distract its people? How will contstructing new cities, no matter how sustainable they are, lessen our environmental impact when they are built next right to the sprawling and unsustainable metropolises that are at the heart of our modern environmental crisis?
Visual Sources List:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/40894967/Dongtan%20Visual%20Sources.docx
