7/29/2019 An Eco-City Rising in China

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An Eco-city Is Rising in China

It’s just half the acreage of Manhattan but when Tianjin Eco-city is finished sometime in 2020, it will be

the world’s biggest city that was designed from the ground up as a sustainable eco-city. In fact, the 30-

sq km project is already the most ambitious sustainable-city construction on the planet today.

As cities go, Tianjin Eco-city is unique, being a project of two governments, the People’s Republic of 

China and Singapore. It’s located some 90 mi (150 km) southeast of Beijing on non-arable land that used

to be, among other things, a wasteland featuring a 2.6 sq. km wastewater pond. It took the Tianjin

developers three years to clean and detoxify the land.

As home and host to 350,000 people when it’s completed, Tianjin Eco-city aims to be substantially

green. To achieve this, the developers have set for themselves high standards for air quality, drinking-

water quality, transportation, and carbon emissions.

The developers, for instance, are targeting partial independence from nonsustainable and polluting

energy sources through the citywide use of solar panels, wind turbines, and ground-source heat pumps.They plan to have at least a fifth of the eco-city’s total energy needs supplied by zero-emission energy

sources.

An integrated waste collection system is already set up; its centerpiece, a pneumatic waste-collection

management system from Envac, a global supplier of automated vacuum-waste-collection solutions,

that effectively makes garbage trucks unnecessary.

Being green, the eco-city’s urban design emphasizes green, breathing spaces and open-air recreational

facilities. It gives special importance to pedestrian and bicycle traffic. It also features a tram line which,

together with the pedestrian and bicycle lanes, crisscrosses the eco-valley set within the city.

Like any city, Tianjin Eco-city is projected to attract industries. This early, some six hundred companies

have set up facilities in the eco-city and more are expected to relocate in the coming years. However,

they will need to be green industries or industries that adhere to green best practices. The developers

clarified though that the eco-city is not intended to be an exclusive city for green advocates or the

privileged, pointing out that the city in fact provides subsidized housing for its workers and their

families. Barring a major hitch, the start-up area, according to the developers, is expected to be finished

by the end of 2013. It will be a major boost for sustainable development and great beginning for

something that started out as a dumpsite.

A lot of people are taking up outreach courses and green building programs nowadays which shows thatpeople really are into sustainability.