Urban planners eye China's cities

Urbanization has become the mother of invention in nation

China's rapidly growing built environment is inspiring urban planners to develop new ways of thinking, said Mark Harrison, head of urban planning in Asia Pacific at the United Kingdom's engineering consultancy Atkins.

"I think there are so many new ideas being developed and tested out in China, because China is urbanizing at such a rapid speed," Harrison said.

Harrison said one example is the incorporation of environmental sustainability considerations into a new city or town at the point of construction, as opposed to introducing measures to reduce environmental damage after it has occurred, which was the case in many European cities.

This is because Europe industrialized early and the environmental impact of the built environment was sometimes not properly considered, whereas China's newly built cities have the advantage of learning from Europe's mistakes, Harrison said.

"As climate change becomes more of a problem, it is increasingly important to consider factors like traffic, energy use, water use and waste in new cities at the beginning," he said.

Harrison's team, which comprises 150 urban planners, has completed more than 800 projects in China, in more than 100 cities.

One project is master planning for Songjiang New City, an area rich in history and culture near Shanghai, which was being turned into a new city under the Shanghai government's One City, Nine Towns plan, passed by the Shanghai Planning Commission in 2001.

"Songjiang has been developed using the garden city concept, which originated from England," Harrison said. "But different from England, Songjiang has higher density, which needed to be taken into account in the master planning process.

"Songjiang also has many aspects of traditional heritage and culture which we have integrated into our overall design."

The garden city concept, first proposed by the UK's urban planner Ebenezer Howard in 1898, emphasizes self-contained communities allowing residents to live harmoniously with their surroundings.

In the city plan Harrison's team created, modern leisure and recreational features such as a golf course co-exist with traditional landscape in a coherent manner "through careful consideration", he said.

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