Build upward or outward? City's growth dilemma

By Daniel Garst | China Daily | Updated: 2010-09-27 08:08

When seen from a vertical perspective, most of the world's major mega-cities are like a pyramid. The tallest buildings and highest concentration of businesses and people are in the city center.

Beijing's vertical layout, on the other hand, resembles a circus tent. To be sure, the central Dongcheng and Xicheng districts are home to lots of people; however, they are crammed into one-story siheyuan houses.

Even when these dwellings are crowded with residents, as is often the case, hutong neighborhoods, by definition, lack the population density of big high-rise apartment mega-complexes.

Of course, lots of old hutong neighborhoods have recently been torn down but many still remain intact, especially inside the Second Ring Road. Beijing's low-slung urban core is surrounded by newer tall office buildings and apartment blocks, particularly along the East Third Ring Road.

Beijing's peculiar spatial layout has made it a sprawling metropolis, with most of its population distributed around its periphery. That pattern has recently been accentuated by soaring housing prices within the third and fourth ring roads. This has driven more and more residents to settle along the Fifth Ring Road and beyond, where apartments are less expensive.

Because people here spend more time commuting, they have less time to be with their families, exercise, or relax, all of which undermine their physical well-being and makes for more psychological stress.

One logical solution to this sprawl problem would be to redirect growth inward and upward toward the capital's inner core. In this model, Beijing would be more like Shanghai, resembling a pyramid, rather than a circus tent.

But while concentrating people near the center of the capital would limit commuting and ease congestion in the city's subways and roads, it is not really a practical solution. To start with, doing this involves destroying what remains of Beijing's siheyuan and hutong neighborhoods.

Moreover, even if we leave aside these preservation issues, would anyone in their right mind really want the Forbidden City and Tian'anmen Square to be surrounded and dwarfed by high-rise office and apartment towers?

One solution is to channel growth to Beijing's satellite cities. This is, in fact, already starting to happen because many of those who are able to, voting with their feet and choosing to live in places like Shunyi for better air and easier access to outdoor recreational activities.

However, city planners must take care to ensure that such places do not become clusters of low-density villa housing.

More importantly, these satellite cities should be more than just bedroom communities. If they function as bedroom communities, then Beijing's already clogged roads will become even more choked with traffic, as people commute to work from outlying cities. And those who don't drive, but instead make use of the light rail lines connecting Beijing and its satellite cites, will crowd the already packed subways.

Indeed, a Chinese friend informs me that she never commutes to work along Line 5, despite living near the Datun Lu East station. With so many people residing in Tiantongyuan, which has recently become a bedroom community, people have difficulty squeezing into the already filled cars after the first three stops on the line's north end.

Thus managing Beijing's sprawl will necessitate active urban planning to ensure a closer match between where people live and work. In addition, the operating hours of Beijing's light rail and subway lines should be lengthened so people can use them to return home after an evening out.