Red China going green with eco-city

SHANGHAI - With its breakneck economic growth, soaring demand for energy and heavy dependence on coal, China is often seen as an environmental bogeyman.

Yet Dongtan, an eco-city to be built near Shanghai, is already setting new standards in sustainable urban planning. It will be built just 3km from a bird sanctuary. And its location, in protected wetlands on Chongming Island at the mouth of the Yangtze River, doesn't exactly sound like a good starting point for an environmentally sustainable city with a population of half a million.

But Dongtan's designers insist that it's a blueprint for how cities could support, rather than destroy, the environment. Its two major goals are to generate zero carbon emissions and cut average energy demands by two thirds via city layout, energy infrastructure and building design.

Dongtan will be built on an island that has grown over the past 100 years from silt dumped by the Yangtze.

An "energy centre", developed by Arup Urban Design, London, and the University of East Anglia's carbon reduction team, will manage energy from wind turbines, bio-fuels and recycled organic material. Most of Dongtan's waste will be reused and organic waste will be composted or used as biomass for energy production. Human sewage will be processed for irrigation and composting - there will be no landfill waste sites.

The city is being designed around a series of village-style neighbourhoods to make it pedestrian - rather than car - friendly. The width and aspect of buildings will optimise the benefits of shade and direct sun to ensure efficient energy use.

A mix of residential, commercial and industrial areas - common in the West but unusual in China - will prompt people to walk to most places they need to reach. Technology to both generate and save energy will be integrated into buildings and all modes of transport.

"We don't want to replicate a European city in China, or create an alienating futuristic environment," says Arup urban designer Braulio Morera. "We want to reinterpret a Chinese city - and Chinese urban lifestyle - for the 21st century. Bicycles will be a major feature, as will boats, but the bikes will be powered by renewables, and the boats by hydrogen."

Dongtan's developers are also committed to returning agricultural land around the city to its original wetland state. This will create a buffer zone between the city and the marshes that will cut down the spread of pollutants to areas where birds congregate. Farmland around the city will grow food for the residents.

Phase one of Dongtan, a marina village with a population of 20,000, is due for completion by 2010; 80,000 people are expected to be living there by 2020.

- INDEPENDENT