Ancient philosophy guides good urban planning

• Source: Global Times
• [21:54 January 19 2010]
• Comments

GT: The estimated 70 million visitors will put Shanghai's infrastructure to the test. Inadequate peripheral facilities, such as public transport, seem to be a common problem in Chinese cities. What can Shanghai and other Chinese cities do to improve this?

Ma: I don't think it will be a problem for Shanghai in terms of testing its economy and transportation. Having been living in Shanghai for nine years, I am still astonished by the speed and scale of construction, which is unmatched in the world.

But I do think it will post a tough challenge in some regards. For example, ordinary people's daily habits. I still see people throwing their household garbage out in the alleys, waiting for the cleaning workers to take them away.

Yes, the government relabeled the trash cans in an attempt to get people to divide their garbage up for recycling. But these changes have more to do with people's way of thinking and a change of their attitude toward the responsibility they should take as a citizen.

When we say "Better City, Better Life," we also need to think about what aspects of the city actually make our lives better. Convenience, security, a strong infrastructure, and good education affect us all.

But what about sanitary conditions? In a city with a permanent population of 20 million, dealing with the waste is not easy. It takes everyone, not just the cleaners, to make an effort to keep our living environment clean.

Say we have 70 million visitors, that means 14 million a month over the five months of the Expo. A population of 34 million people will soon turn the city into a big dump site if we don't take urgent measures on garbage sorting and recycling.

We can make a comparison with other big cities in Asia.

In Tokyo, which is about the same size as Shanghai, they implemented a "super ecological region" to promote the classification of five different kinds of garbage: construction waste, industrial waste, medical waste, household waste and electronic waste. By doing that, Tokyo successfully resolved this problem. It is a useful experience for Shanghai to learn from.

GT: Green ecology is a must in today's urban development, and has been prioritized at the Expo. What can China learn from other cities in the world?

Ma: As a matter of fact, Chinese people traditionally live a low-carbon life. People used to live in hutong and build their houses around small alleys. It saves energy on transportation. This is a green lifestyle.

Compare this to some Western cities, such as Pittsburgh. The environment was polluted by heavy industry first, then people realized how important it is to have a healthy low-carbon lifestyle. It is a green city now because people learned from the mistakes they made in the past.

So for China, we can see the mistakes other cities made before and should learn from them. As long as we do not abandon what our ancestors had and were proud of, it won't be very difficult to maintain.

But in reality, green technology costs more to begin with. Property developers may be reluctant to adopt green materials because it raises their costs. Government departments need to release policies to support green development.

With more financial support and hard policies, people will be more willing to use them. I think it will be a good start for us.