A Chinese vision for sustainable cities: compact city, lifestyle and personal aspiration

Abstract

The paper discusses challenges, issues and opportunities confronting the city planners of Contemporary China. It was the late Deng Xiaoping's Post-Marxist Reform of the late Seventies that opened the door for Capitalism for the Socialist state and transformed a nation with 1.3 billion mouths. Overnight, every Chinese is bewildered by the unimaginably diversity of irresistible temptations of materialistic proficiency, and with it the pride of achievement and more importantly elevated self-esteem at an individual and national level. On the other hand, the phenomenon growth in finance, economics and transformation of city images ignite a neo-class struggle because of disparity of wealth, and dismays of the enormous underprivileged. The facelift of physical facilities and outlook of cities prompted a horrifying rate of urbanization and demography - influx of population from rural to urban. All of these give rise to a revolutionary change in the social structure and personal values. The prevailing urban form that infested the 700 or so Chinese cities is the compact mixed land use city model, better described as high-density and even high-rise city in contrary to the western model of a sprawl city. What then are the pros and cons of the compact city model? What are the challenges and solutions that Chinese planners have resolved? The paper analyzes the success and failing of the mixed land use planning approach based on a sustainability framework (comprising social, economics and environmental criteria) explained by selected case studies such as Hong Kong and Guangzhou which have been instrumental for many of the mainland cities at the eve of the Open Door Reform. Finally, the discussion is concluded by a reference to the new vision for sustainable urban form by the case study of Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou to illustrate the new approaches for Chinese cities.