Roughly 40% of Chongming Island will be urbanized, while 60% will remain agricultural. Sophisticated organic-farming techniques linked to the waste-recycling system will create a sustainable cycle of local food production to supply businesses such as restaurants and hotels.
Rather than importing building supplies from around the world, structures such as the sports stadium will be built with local materials.
Dongtan will have no petroleum- driven transportation. Cars, trams, and boats will use electrical power or hydrogen fuel cells, also reducing noise pollution.
Unlike most cities designed around roads, Dongtan--projected to house 20,000 people by 2010--will teem with pathways, cycling routes, and canals.
The dome-shaped Energy Centre will supply the entire city with power from renewable sources. It will also serve as a tourist attraction, science exhibition, environmental education center, and park.
In a reinterpretation of traditional Chinese housing, low-rise buildings will allow natural light to spill onto the streets; the local brick will be a natural insulator and protect against severe wind conditions.
Green rooftops will collect, filter, and store water; solar panels will heat it.
Wind turbines will line the city's western edges, meeting about 20% of its energy needs without infringing on the natural bird habitat to the east. Visitors arriving from the west will see the environmental wall around the city
China, in it's headlong rush towards planetry destruction, is working hard to run in the opposite direction. A cartoon character that has just run off the edge of a cliff, feet still peddling but not yet falling, there is the hope that it will grab a sticky-out branch before hurtling to oblivion.
biffvernon wrote:
Unlike most cities designed around roads, Dongtan--projected to house 20,000 people by 2010--will teem with pathways, cycling routes, and canals.
You have to admire the CHinese sometimes. Once theyve identified a problem they dont muck about. Even if that means they get it disastrously wrong occasionally.
I think they're being very canny. By building a 'proof of concept' eco-city, if they can get it to work, the rest of the world will be soon be beating a path to their door to buy the technologies and more imprtantly the systems they've come up with. A lot of the technology already exists - how you can fit it all together to create sustainable high density living is the trick that has to be cracked.
Personally, as an inveterate townie who doesnt own a car, I'd love to live somewhere like Dontan.
I think the amount of artificial lighting in this image looks 'optimistic' if they are going to run the whole thing on renewables, or do they have an unlimited supply of geothermal energy, or something.
This island didn't exist a thousand years ago. It's actually growing, seawards, at about 150 metres per year. The Yangtze brings down a lot of sediment.
I think the amount of artificial lighting in this image looks 'optimistic' if they are going to run the whole thing on renewables, or do they have an unlimited supply of geothermal energy, or something.
I wouldnt pay much attention to a computer graphic. Quite possible the artist didnt even understand what he was drawing. Im sure youve seen many architectural and project drawings where the 'realistic' artwork for public consumption bears no relation to what eventually gets produced. I had some of the original concept boards for the Greewich Dome project in my possession for a short while many moons ago. Wish I'd copied them. Be a hoot to compare with what eventually happened on that site.
biffvernon wrote:This island didn't exist a thousand years ago. It's actually growing, seawards, at about 150 metres per year. The Yangtze brings down a lot of sediment.
Biff - you're quite right of course - there was no island more than one thousand years ago.
The growth by 150ms/yr is a very recent phenomena, and reflects (consists of) the massive soil erosion that has been occuring in the upper reaches of the Yangtse.
Good point Bill, and nice set of pics.
I guess the silting question is very complex. The Three Gorges and other dams will be holding back the silt. On the other hand reduced flooding reduces deposition on the flood plain allowing more to reach the river mouth. Furthermore, river mouths are not always at a constant sea level, hence the problem at New Orleans. I'm inclined to think that Arup will have studied the local geomorphology pretty carefully.
Last edited by biffvernon on 28 Apr 2006, 22:29, edited 1 time in total.
biffvernon wrote:Good point Bill, and nice set of pics.
I guess the silting question is very complex. The Three Gorges and other dams will be holding back the silt.
Not that I know anything about it, but looking through the snaps of the Three Gorges Dam linked above, I noticed this...
