Origins of Ecopolis: Urban growth and sustainability
• 50% of the world’s population live in cities
• By 2035 80%?
• ‘In cities all around the world, the holy grail at the beginning of the 21st Century is sustainability’.
BBC news June 21 st 2006
• Is a radical programme of making our cities greener places to live in a sustainable way to allow us to keep living in cities?
•
Ecopolis-a city that follows sustainable ecological principles with minimum footprint.
• Dongtan, China, the world’s first Ecopolis : 80,000 will live in a car-free, zero-emission, recycling city with an ecological footprint 1/3 that emitted by people in
Shanghai.
• Dongtan is probably the biggest single building project in the world, taking place in a country many see as the biggest risk to the planet's green future.

news.bbc.co.uk
www.nrteetrnee.ca/.../intropage.htm
• Sustainability is now the buzz word in all scales and facets of planning and decision making as stress, ill health and loss of revenue arises directly and indirectly from air pollution, traffic congestion and inadequate housing.
• Definition : A settlement which meets the needs of its present and future inhabitants and has a minimal ecological footprint.
• Sustainable urbanisation is one of the most pressing challenges facing the global community in the 21st century.
• Sustainable development means improving the quality of life of a population within the carrying capacity of Earth’s finite resources.
• Origins :The 1992 international ` Earth Summit ` in Rio de Janeiro-
Agenda 21, (national sustainable development strategies). Local
Agenda 21 (local authorities try to ‘do their bit’ for global issues).

• What?
Ecological footprint analysis approximates the amount of ecologically productive land, sea and other water mass area required to sustain a population, manufacture a product, or undertake certain activities.
• How?
by accounting the use of energy, food, water, building materials, other consumables.
•
Unit?
Usually convert these demands into a measure of land area used in
'global hectares' (gha) per capita.
• A sustainable footprint ? is 2.18 global hectares.
• Inequalities?
2003 est average footprint gha per capita :
USA 9.5gha
Switzerland 4 gha
China c. 1.5 gha -Shanghai=>7gha Dongtan <2.5?gha
UK 5.6, London= 6.63

a public-spirited and ecoefficient city- in a LEDC!.
• Population doubled to 1.6 million over the past 30 years.
• Curitiba, best planned city in Brazil ?
• International model for sustainable development
• The city's achievements are the result of strategic, integrated urban planning. Strong leadership from
1960s!
• Overarching strategy covers all aspects of urban planning, including social, economic and environmental programs.
•
Curitiba's strategy focuses on putting people first and on integrated planning, and these influences are apparent in all aspects of the city.
• The strategy underpins individual projects that improve the environment, cut pollution and waste, and improve quality of life
Mayor: Jaime
Lerner

The mother of mega cities of the future?
Can it become sustainable?

• In Asia, China's urbanisation has followed the traditional ‘drivers’ experienced by the West.
• Its industrial revolution is the most rapid the world has seen.
• Since economic reforms began in
1978, an est 150-200 m people have migrated from rural to urban areas to fill the jobs generated by the economic explosion: + a projection of at least 200m more –
’The biggest migration in human history?’
•
It now has 90 cities of more than one million inhabitants, ‘grey places’, little known to the outside world.
• Shanghai has an officially est population of 17 m expected to rise to 23 m by 2020 news.bbc.co.uk

Sir Terry Farrell, architect and city planner
When President Hu Jintao took over in 2003, searching questions began to be asked about the trajectory of China’s development.
Since then a new policy emphasis on
“ harmony between humanity and nature ” and on building “a conservation-oriented and environment-friendly society ”.
2006: Herbert Girardet hailed the pioneering project – planned for
Chongming island, near
Shanghai -- which could provide a template for future urban design…… 4 other ecocities may be created such as Guangdon.
As China is planning to build
400 new cities in the next 20 yrs, Dongtan’s success is of crucial importance!

China to build world's first
Ecopolis-Dongtan
•" We want to demonstrate in what way this can happen without destabilising the world in terms of emissions, pollution, resources,"
Dong Shanfeng, who oversees the project for Arup.
• Chongming Island- 45 km north of Shanghai.
• Paddy fields, corn fields, crab ponds, wetlands.
• Started summer 2006.
• By 2010 3/4size of Manhattan, 50,000 pop.
•
By 2020 it will have 80,000 pop.
• Aim: intended to absorb some of the millions moving to Shanghai.
Future expansion? A space 10 times the size has been set aside for continuous development to 2050

What’s so special about Dongtan- a local project with a global perspective?
•
To differ from Chinas track record of the urbanisation : pollution, traffic congestion, social unrest
• Showcase for foreign urban planners
• Arup is the main designer
• Political significance the contract signed nov 2006 10 Downing Street in the presence of the British prime minister, Tony Blair, and the visiting
Chinese president, Hu Jintao
• Wetlands focus.
• affordable Housing , all under 8 storeys
• sustainable materials
•
Waste treated
• clean-fuel vehicles .
• No landfills
• Renewable Energy
• Local food sourcing

http://www.building.co.uk/
• Ecologically sensitive design Canals, lakes and marinas will run through the city, with solar-powered water taxis.
• STAR Project – Sustainable Technologies and Renewables Project zero emissions -as near to carbon neutral as possible.
• Grey water NB The plan for golf courses?
• Buildings will be for mixed use , combining work and residential areas minimise commuting.
• Sewage processed for irrigation and composting.
• Low rise buildings to reduce the ‘heat island effect’ which reduces global warming emissions Turf and vegetation cover for roofs.
• The town has 6 times more space for pedestrians than
Copenhagen,
• The main aim is to keep the footprint down to 2.2hectares per person (already 7 for average Shanghais- in USA it is 9.7).
•
Visitors will park their cars outside the city and use public transport to get around inside the city
• The vitality of an ecosystem depends on its self-regulation abilitycan the authorities act as regulators in this ecocity?
Sources: include SIIC and Arup

• The first phase of Dongtan Eco-City is conceived as a town consisting of three compact, pedestrian “villages”, each with its own distinct character: Marina, Lake and
Pond
• The city will then continue to grow as a collection of towns connected by cycle routes and public transport corridors, allowing inhabitants access to different parts of the city by tram, bus and bicycle, as well as on foot.
• The aim is to ensure that people will have to walk for no more than 7 minutes from any part of the city to reach a bus or tram stop.
http://english.cri.cn/811/2006/05/07/301@85444.htm

• Dongtan's first phase, by 2010, will mainly house tourism industries - it is believed millions of people will want to visit the city.
• Further phases will become home to other industries including health .
• It is hoped a centre linking modern western medical practices and Chinese herbal medicine will be established.
• Other sectors will cater for education and research as well as service industries .
• Initially, some of Dongtan's residents will commute to Shanghai for work, but the goal is to provide employment for most of the island's residents. The planners hope that ultimately companies will choose Dongtan as a place to live and work
• The initial phase will cost around £1.5bn, but the figures are expected to rise into the double-digit billions.
• But it's an optimistic signal from China that the ‘world's factory’ is serious about doing something on global warming and sustainability

Beddington Zero fossil
Energy Development -
• mixed-use scheme in Wallington, S. London
• BedZED developed by London’s largest housing association, the Peabody
Trust.
• Arup consulting group was among the partners.
• The scheme - 82 homes community facilities + workspace for 100 people and
2,500m² of commercial or living/work space.
• Completed and occupied in 2002.
• Objective - enable people to live sustainably without sacrificing a modern, urban and mobile lifestyle.
• Greener construction material:
Local construction materials: 52% of the construction materials were sourced from within a
35 mile radius of the construction site.
- Reuse of construction materials:15% (3,404 tonnes) of the construction materials used were reclaimed or recycled.
- Renewable materials: timber not uPVC window frames saved nearly 800 tonnes of CO2 emissions, some 12.5% of the total CO2 for the scheme.

The Chinese decision to use UK architects in
Dongtan followed a visit to BedZED in 2005 by the
Chinese Government’s
Environmental Protection and Resources
Conservation Committee
Data from ETAP http://ec.europa.eu/environment/etap
Monitored reduction
Target reduction
()=building regulations new homes upto 2002
Space heating 88% (73%)
Hot water
Electricity
57% (44%)
25%
90%
33%
33%
33% Mains water 50%
Fossil Fuel car mileage
65% 50%