Bicycle Fixation Weblog
[Previous entry: "The Flatland Myth Flattened"] [Next entry: "Knicker Socks Are Here!"]
11/25/2007: "Green Shanghai?"
China continues its slow lurch towards a more just and sustainable society, with two articles on the BBC news website outlining some of Shanghai's efforts to reduce the degradation of its urban environment by a decades-long history of careless development exacerbated by a recent surge in automobile ownership.One article is a general overview of issues involving the Dongtan Eco-City, a largely car-free development intended for one of Shanghai's river islands.
More comprehensive is an article on how Shanghai is attempting to mitigate the social and environmental effects of rampant growth in the main city itself. Among the key notes:
- The population increased from 13.5 million to 21.5 million in the last 15 years
- The physical size of the city increased sixfold, from just 100 sq km to 680 sq km
- Three ring roads and six motorways now criss-cross the city
- The city has also seen an explosion in car ownership, with over 1 million car owners in 2006, and private car ownership has doubled in two years.
- Shanghai has made it expensive to own a car in the city
- Since the mid-1990s, it has built an extensive metro system, with five lines, now used by 1.8 million people per day, and it is now planning six new lines
- Overall, one-quarter of journeys in Shanghai are by public transport, and the city would like to increase that to 30% by 2010
- Two-thirds of private journeys in Shanghai are by two-wheeled vehicles such as bicycles and scooters
- The city building 180km of dedicated bike lanes, especially in newly built areas like Pudong
