Super-sized metropolises leave residents worn out

• Source: Global Times
• [22:56 September 08 2010]
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Illustration: Liu Rui

By He Hui

By the end of 2009, the total population of Beijing had reached 19.72 million. The population control target of Beijing, established in 2005, was 18 million people by 2020. However, in just over five years, reality has exceeded the target. How big will Beijing go? Will it exceed 50 million or even more?

Based on the average growth rate of 2.8 percent since 2000 and the assumption that other conditions would remain unchanged, the population in Beijing will, in theory, exceed 50 million in 34 years time.

The efforts of the government are extremely passive and the cities are growing bigger around the core areas by themselves. In this development model, the desire for better jobs, consumption, pleasure, wealth and power as well as the pursuit of profit all become the invisible impetus that stimulates the growth of the urban population.

Therefore, an ethical dilemma arises: Do those who have been living in large cities have the power to restrict others from working and living in cities? If the answer is no, then it might be possible for China's major cities such as Beijing to have a population of 50 million in the future.

But it's still unclear whether cities can cope with such growth. And what kind of living conditions and psychological status will people have in such cities? Some major problems will naturally arise.

First of all, the supply of all basic means of livelihood, including water, food and electricity will face tremendous pressure. And the supply of major energy resources such as natural gas and petroleum will become extremely fraught, needing extensive logistical support, which will be highly costly.  If any basic supply is threatened, enormous cities could fall into panic.

All kinds of urban problems such as traffic, air quality and garbage will become very serious. The gathering together of a large number of people creates huge traffic pressures for the city. Large quantities of carbon dioxide and other pollutants will have a tremendous impact on air quality.