A simple picture can be of a waterfall taken by a photographer from a camera or it can be a design of the future created by Alejando Gutierrez on a computer. This is a picture of the future Eco-City Dongtan in the island Chongming located by Shanghai in China which is issued in the Wired Magazine . The picture catches the attention of many environmentalists and people who are concerned about the earth and want to move towards building Eco-Cities. From the green rooftops to the lake and water system in the image makes you feel that there is a chance for a Eco-City to make a difference in our environmental problems today. This image not only marks the achievements of many designers it also marks the time in history where people from all around the world are working together to make a difference and they are doing it by building an Eco-City.
What I mean by when I say that people from all around the world are working together is how this all started. It all started with a little step taken from Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation to have a city developed by the mouth of the Yangtze River.,
“Three years ago Alejandro Gutierrez got a strange and tantalizing message from Hong Kong. Some McKinsey consultants were putting together a business plan for a big client that wanted to build a small city on the outskirts of Shanghai. Today Gutierrez and a team of Arup specialists from Europe, North America, and Asia are finalizing a plan for a scratch- built metropolis called Dongtan,” wrote Douglas McGray in the Wired Magazine 15.05.
Dongtan is the new city plan for the island Chongming near Shanghai. It should by open by the time EXPO 2010 opens in Shangai. It doesn’t seem like a problem for Shanghai it have it up and running accommodating for about 50,000 because Shanghai’s economy is growing three times faster than United State’s economy. Transportation for Dongtan is bicycle paths, buses, walking routes, and water taxis. They will be solar or hydrogen fuel powered and visitors will be asked to leave their vehicles outside of the city.
Eco-Cities are designed to be ecologically friendly, with zerogreenhouse emission transit, complete self sufficiency in water and energy. This particular design has to be ecologically sensitive since its located near a wetland of global importance since its the migratory path for one of the rarest birds in the world, the black-faced spoonbill.
Key Principles Of Sustainablity
- to keep the ecological footprint to less than 2.2 Ha/person
- to minimize energy consumption in transportation and buildings
- to maximize the use of renewable energy
- to create loop of recycling-waste to be reused or recycled
- to propose the maximum use of organic food
- to produce their own food
Sources
Photo-http://www.wayfaring.info/2007/04/16/dongtan-eco-city-china/
Douglas McGray-Wired Magazine 15.05
ARUP-Dongtan Eco-City
Dongtan will be a great model from which the world community can learn form and draw inspiration. In order to tackle issues of an eco-nature, we need to be forward thinking. Be interesting to see how the ‘final’ product of this eco-friendly city compares to that of the one planned In Abu Dhabi, UAE. Masdar City, billed as another Eco City that plans to house 50,000 people as well as following similar sustainability principles. In the words of Sultan Al Jaber as to why it should be built:
“The answer is simple,” says Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co., the developers planning the city. “There are two reasons. Number one, because we can. Number two, because we should. And because this is a logical step and a natural extension for our involvement in the energy markets.”
-npr.org May 5, 2008
Article: UAE Has Mixed Motivations for Eco City by Joe Palca
Of course, the desert is not exactly a sustainable place to build a city of any kind comparatively speaking to that of the island outside of Shanghai, yet desert cities could gain much from what is discovered about efficiency and sustainability in such a dry region.