Beijing, one of the most polluted cities to the world | JASON LEE / REUTERS

Over 750 million Chinese living in urban areas are faced with the pollution of their environment. To tackle the phenomenon and not be subjected to the wrath of the middle classes, the People’s Republic of China wishes to promote the emergence of new satellite cities.

Faced with their rapid growth and to meet challenges on a par with their population, Chinese cities are endeavouring to clean up. Rapid urbanisation, along with exports, has driven the development of the country since the economic opening in the early 1980s.

In 1981 urban areas only accounted for 7,000 square kms. in China but in 2015 this had risen to 49,000 square kms. In the same period, the number of urban areas jumped from 193 to 653. Attracted by new possibilities of employment, the Chinese left the rural areas in droves. In 1978, when Deng Xiaoping, the father of the reforms, came to power only 170 million Chinese lived in cities, as compared with over 750 million in 2015, or more than 56% of the population. The Communist Party intends to pursue this fast-paced movement with the urban population reaching over 60% in 2020.

These staggering statistics are a challenge for the country. The residents in these huge urban sprawls suffer from their concomitant evils: a high degree of water and atmospheric pollution, new urban areas with poor urban transport connections, endless traffic jams. What these citizens persist in demanding are clear answers to their problems. As of 2014, the Prime Minister, Li Keqiang declared that the “war on pollution” had begun.

Not very convincing projects

Local leaders all wish to emulate each other which fosters rivalry; they all want to stand out as the one who got rid of the smog in the city. Meanwhile the State Party impatiently looks on, fearing that these large areas of pollution will alienate them from the new middle classes. Under Xi Jinping, the Party leadership is committed to implementing “a new type of urban development” before 2020 focussing on people and not endangering the environment.

This endeavour began around Beijing with the declared aim of curbing the growth of population in the capital. It should be stabilised at 23 million inhabitants in 2030, as compared with 21 million today, to improve the quality of the air which the residents breathe and reduce congestion in the city. To meet this aim, the People’s Republic wants to see the creation of new satellite cities. Thus part of the administrative services of the capital will soon be forced to move to the outlying suburb of Tongzhou, 23 kms. east of the Forbidden City. At the same time, the President, Xi Jinping, intends to create a new town from scratch, Xiongan, two hours by road to the south of Beijing, in an area of mines and the metal industry.

Previous initiatives have resulted in projects which were not very convincing. In 2006 the President at the time, Hu Tintao, described a project for an eco-city in the north-east of the country at Caofeidian, on the banks of the Gulf of Bohai, as being ‘as precious as gold’. Despite the 83 billion dollars spent on building a deep-water port and on reclaiming building areas from the sea, this project has now resulted in abandoned factories, empty high-rise residential towers and a mountain of debts.

A project for an eco-city

Similarly, a project for an eco-city north of Shanghaï, in Dongtan, designed in cooperation with the United Kingdom, has never seen the light of day. Another in Tianjin (in the North-East), conceived with the support of Singapore, is having difficulty in attracting residents.

The French have also tried in the centre of China, at Wuhan. This is a huge city of over ten million inhabitants on the river Yangzi, home to the major production sites of the French automobile manufacturers in China. The area of Caidian is to be built as a ‘sustainable city’ with architecture on a human-scale, the development of highways and railways but at a lower level, streets adapted to pedestrians and cyclists. Keolis, EDF, Suez and other major French firms hope to be part of this project. If it is a success, they consider it will be a model for other emerging cities.

Another tendency, which is perhaps more promising than the high-risk planning of new districts where it is difficult to predict whether or not they will attract the population or remain vacant, is the rationalisation of the existent. The Chinese city of tomorrow aims to be ‘smart’. An unlikely example is to be found in dusty Yinchuan, a town of two million inhabitants between the Yellow River and the Gobi Desert; here there are garbage bins equipped with solar panels which supply the electricity enabling the waste to be compacted and the garbage collection service to be alerted when they are full.