Economy

The challenge of millions on the move

By Andrew Moody and Chen Jia (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-18 10:35
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Richard Baum, author of China Watcher and a past director of the Center for China Studies at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), said urbanization, while bringing benefits, had led to a wealth divide between rich and poor in China.

"The massive urban migration over the past 20 years has created a gulf between rich and poor," he said.

"Urbanization is always a mixed bag but to the extent it has brought rising incomes it has been more a blessing than a curse."

He believes the growth of smaller cities is one of the keys to China's future economic development.

"If there is to be a focus on regional urbanization with cities of between 500,000 and 1 million rather than between 5 and 10 million there needs to be a serious rewriting or even abolition of the hukou rules," he said.

A major issue with urbanization is the effect on the environment. In August, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the leading China planning agency, launched an initiative to create low-carbon development plans in five provinces and eight cities across China, some of which were smaller second-tier urban centers.

Wu Changhua, Greater China director of The Climate Group, the international climate solutions organization, based in Beijing, said there needs to be greater focus on smaller cities.

"In Beijing urban planning in the past has been moving outwards from First to Second to Third Ring Road and beyond and it is not really sustainable," she said. She believes new cities could provide the key and pave the way to a lower carbon future.

"They provide a way of integrating low carbon solutions into the urbanization process. New satellite cities have to be workable for people. People have got to be able to shop, have leisure facilities and go to work there," he said.

Dominic Bettison, managing director of international architects Wilkinson Eyre's China operations, insists new cities provide opportunities for groundbreaking architectural solutions which address climate change.

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"You can look at having district cooling or district heating where a series of buildings or streets have linked systems, which use very little energy," he said. "In smaller cities you can also have smaller-scale buildings rather than having the necessity to build huge skyscrapers. Smaller buildings can make greater use of natural ventilation with less reliance on air conditioning."

Baum, the US author and academic, now living in France, said it is inevitable urbanization will cause further climate damage, whether smaller cities take the lead or not.

"You might see a reduction in the pace of environmental degradation but not a reversal of it. Maybe 40 or 50 years down the road carbon intensity may be reversed to the point where you see some improvement but that is a long way off," he added.

"People trumpet China's wind and solar panel industries but most of that is for export and is not being used domestically. Coal remains China's biggest energy resource and coal is not clean energy - yet, at least."

Li Dexiang, professor at the school of architecture at Tsinghua University, said the solution to China's urbanization process was to create sustainable cities and living environments.