Friday 6 July 2007

China's eco-city faces growth challenge

China's plans to build an "eco-city" of 500,000 people on a huge island in the Yangtze Delta have been widely heralded. But local planners seem to have different priorities from the world leaders who have flocked to see the project.

It is here that Shanghai plans to build a demonstration eco-city which will ultimately house 500,000 people, designed by the UK engineering consultancy firm Arup.
Peter Head, Arup's project director, says that the project can be a model for the world.

"Significant global climate change, environmental issues, water shortages and the need for the use of cleaner and renewable energy demand the creation of a new approach to urban development," he explained in his office in Shanghai.

The eco-city, to be linked to the mainland by an 18-mile long bridge-tunnel which also spans two smaller islands, will initially house between 20,000 and 50,000 people.



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