Urbanization must be more rational to avoid repeating past mistakes

AT THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL FORUM on Sustainable Urban Development held recently, Xu Lin, director of the China Urban and Small Town Reform and Development Center, said in 20 years, 80 percent of China’s population will be living in urban areas and sustainable urban development will undoubtedly be a big challenge. Legal Daily comments:

Some big cities already suffer from serious urban diseases ranging from air pollution to traffic jams. Their expansion relies primarily on the boom of real estate industry and the explosion of theirpopulation. The heavy pressure on transport and public services in the megacities have become increasingly unbearable.

The growth of big cities is partially based on the hollowing-out of smaller towns. Thus the development gaps among cities continues to widen.

To tap cities’ potential as economic growth engines over the next 20 years and make the development of the cities more balanced, China needs to ensure that the urbanization over the next 20 years is more rational, so as to put an end to the current extensive style of urbanization.

It is advisable to classify cities into different ranks, stipulating the upmost population density and scale for each rank, which should serve as a bottom line for future urbanization to keep the growth of cities under control. Accordingly, the number of kindergartens, schools, hospitals and residential communities can be calculated to ensure there are sufficient affordable public services.

China should demonstrate more foresight and heed the lessons from its urbanization over the past 40 years in the planning of future urbanization in order to avoid creating environmental and social problems and urban maladies.

Urbanization is the only way for China to move toward modernization. But it needs to be rational for the future development of the nation.

Airbnb’s announced plan would have allowed the four groups to sleep in a custom-designed “home” set in one of the Great Wall’s towers.

The incident aroused wide public discussions about the possible damage that might be done to the Great Wall, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and cultural relic protected by law. As a response, Airbnb said they had got support from the local government as well as the tourism authorities of Beijing municipality and its Yanqing district.

However, the local government of Yanqing district soon announced they had not been informed about the activity, neither had they approved any program of that kind. The local antique protection department of Yanqing also said they do not support such activities on the Great Wall.

The Great Wall Protection Regulation clearly forbids people from installing devices not related to its protection on the Great Wall.

Some say the nation’s cultural heritage should be exploited for commercial use. However, such activities must adhere to one key principle, namely they do not pose any risk. After all, even relics that have survived thousands of years cannot be recovered if any damage is done.

A good example of exploiting antiques for commercial use is the Forbidden City museum, which produced a popular documentary about its conservation work and the skills of its professional restorers. Now the museum has an online shop that sells modern copies of the antiques, which earns money that is used to better protect the Forbidden City. Maybe those wishing to exploit the Great Wall can learn from it.