I was reading a fascinating article in the Economist entitled, "Visions of Ecopolis." There are plans to build Dongtan, an eco-city near Shanghai, China, which will be self-sufficient in energy and water. Energy will be generated from wind turbines and bio-fuels from agricultural waste. Most trash will be recycled; the city will not even have a landfill. Food production will be done without agricultural chemicals. Public transportation will be via water taxis that are solar-powered and buses with hydrogen fuel cells. Dongtan will not allow gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles. The city will be compact rather than sprawling, to faciliate easy access by foot or bicycle. Wetland areas will be protected, with a buffer zone, and a forest will be planted, as there is no natural forest there. Buildings will be highly energy efficient, such that the amount of energy required to heat and cool them will be reduced by 70%. Non-polluting industries like call-centers will be located in Dongtan. The city will have its first residents in the next five years and will eventually be home to 500,000 people.

I was actually kind of shocked to read about this grandiose plan, given all of the negative publicity given to China in recent years as a large polluter and home of many dangerous coal mines and dirty coal-fired power plants. There are certainly some negatives to the plan according to the article, such as concerns about the carbon emissions that will be generated by visitors from Shanghai and tourists living further away in getting to the eco-friendly city. Nevertheless, I think that the people who masterminded Dongtan deserve a lot of credit for thinking through the different variables. Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, was so inspired by this project that he plans to build a zero-carbon suburb in London. It would be wonderful if more lawmakers and heads-of-state around the world took this example and ran with it, perhaps perfecting it a bit more by e.g. finding a way to reduce the cost of some of the technology. If eco-friendly cities are really going to take off for the masses, they can't only be places that are affordable to the rich. However, if we don't start somewhere, we will never get to the point where eco-friendly cities and towns are accessible to most people. With all of the disregard for the environment in rapidly industrializing countries like China, it is great that some in China want a modern city that is also respectful of the environment. It seems that we need more of this vision in our own country right now.