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Problems and possibilities in Shanghai's satellite towns
By Ni Tao |
October 25, 2011, Tuesday
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Print Edition
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EDITOR'S NOTE:
To ease crowding and congestion in the central city, Shanghai has built several satellite towns in its suburbs. Have they improved the lives of residents? What are the trade-offs? Why are some new towns "ghost towns"? Dutch urban designer Harry den Hartog, an authority on Shanghai's urban planning history, spoke to Shanghai Daily opinion writer Ni Tao on October 13 about these issues. This is the first part of the interview.
Q: You wrote in your book "Shanghai New Towns - Searching for community and identity in a sprawling metropolis" that Shanghai's rehousing of millions in the suburbs has eased the congestion in the central city. What problems have arisen?
A: First of all, this development is a decentralization model.
To protect the countryside, urban planners had made circles to limit the expansion of the city. But the city's boundaries haven't ended within the circles. The circles grow together into one big city. So finally the countryside is not protected since it's developed into one big urban field. In the little countryside that is left you can see a lot of infrastructure. So the protection of the countryside doesn't work as people have planned. That's one problem.
Another problem is speculation.
The majority of houses, especially houses in the new towns, are designed by foreign experts and sell for high prices. But many of these houses are used for speculation.
People buy a second or third house. People from Wenzhou and other cities just buy a house in Shanghai for speculation and they are not going to live there.
So you'll see many empty houses if you go to the new towns. Sometimes you see 80 percent of the houses there are empty. The vacancy rate is high. So they are a success in commercial terms but are not very practical.
Q: Many new towns' amenities and transport are unsatisfactory. Does this fact contradict officials' claims that they narrow the divide between urban and rural lifestyles?
A: Many residents in new towns are relocated farmers. They have retained their lifestyle, for instance, washing laundry or vegetables in the river and growing vegetables in public greenery.
There is a lot of communication. They meet and greet neighbors in the street.
I've spoken to many of them. They told me they are happy to own their own kitchens and the quality of houses is better. But often they complain they have to walk a long way to the supermarket and the goods on offer there are very expensive.
There are, of course, people who used to live in run-down houses in the central city and were unsatisfied with life after they were relocated to new towns.
I'll give an example about two families. They used to live in Putuo District and were relocated in Jiading District.
As compensation for relocation they were given two houses in a high-rise. The quality of life has improved because they now have their own bathroom and also the houses are bigger.
But the family has to go to work every day and the workplace is still in Putuo. There's no subway. The father has to go there by motorcycle. The trip takes one and half an hours. There are also traffic jams.
So in general, life for relocated residents in new towns is quite good but living expenses there are also quite higher.
In old towns people can shop in small and cheaper grocery stores.
Q: You wrote that Shanghai is trying to strike a balance between a state-planned urban planning model and a market-oriented model. Has it succeeded?
A: Not yet I think, because as I said, there was a lot of speculation in the last 10 years. So many of the houses are chosen for earning quick money, not for living.
Since the adoption of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), the government is shifting to social housing as there is a big need for cheap houses.
But we still have to find a way to solve the problem of speculation, to prevent the similar collapse of bubbles in property prices as in the US, as well as to make those houses affordable and inhabitable.
And urban design cannot be left totally to the market, there must be some government control. The government has to keep an eye on the process so that everything will go in the right direction.
As for the quality of the houses in new towns, I've seen cracks in walls, leaks and other problems, but I also see these problems in expensive houses sometimes.
So it's not just a good quality or bad quality issue. Often the quality of the houses in new towns is indeed a problem.
For instance the property on the cover of my book. It may look quite good at first sight but if we go inside, we'll find there isn't much maintenance.
The elevator is roughly used and nobody cleans it. And the buildings' walls used to be white. But People parked their bikes close to them. After one year, the walls were full of dirt and were turned gray or almost black. So maintenance leaves much to be desired.
To ease crowding and congestion in the central city, Shanghai has built several satellite towns in its suburbs. Have they improved the lives of residents? What are the trade-offs? Why are some new towns "ghost towns"? Dutch urban designer Harry den Hartog, an authority on Shanghai's urban planning history, spoke to Shanghai Daily opinion writer Ni Tao on October 13 about these issues. This is the first part of the interview.
Q: You wrote in your book "Shanghai New Towns - Searching for community and identity in a sprawling metropolis" that Shanghai's rehousing of millions in the suburbs has eased the congestion in the central city. What problems have arisen?
A: First of all, this development is a decentralization model.
To protect the countryside, urban planners had made circles to limit the expansion of the city. But the city's boundaries haven't ended within the circles. The circles grow together into one big city. So finally the countryside is not protected since it's developed into one big urban field. In the little countryside that is left you can see a lot of infrastructure. So the protection of the countryside doesn't work as people have planned. That's one problem.
Another problem is speculation.
The majority of houses, especially houses in the new towns, are designed by foreign experts and sell for high prices. But many of these houses are used for speculation.
People buy a second or third house. People from Wenzhou and other cities just buy a house in Shanghai for speculation and they are not going to live there.
So you'll see many empty houses if you go to the new towns. Sometimes you see 80 percent of the houses there are empty. The vacancy rate is high. So they are a success in commercial terms but are not very practical.
Q: Many new towns' amenities and transport are unsatisfactory. Does this fact contradict officials' claims that they narrow the divide between urban and rural lifestyles?
A: Many residents in new towns are relocated farmers. They have retained their lifestyle, for instance, washing laundry or vegetables in the river and growing vegetables in public greenery.
There is a lot of communication. They meet and greet neighbors in the street.
I've spoken to many of them. They told me they are happy to own their own kitchens and the quality of houses is better. But often they complain they have to walk a long way to the supermarket and the goods on offer there are very expensive.
There are, of course, people who used to live in run-down houses in the central city and were unsatisfied with life after they were relocated to new towns.
I'll give an example about two families. They used to live in Putuo District and were relocated in Jiading District.
As compensation for relocation they were given two houses in a high-rise. The quality of life has improved because they now have their own bathroom and also the houses are bigger.
But the family has to go to work every day and the workplace is still in Putuo. There's no subway. The father has to go there by motorcycle. The trip takes one and half an hours. There are also traffic jams.
So in general, life for relocated residents in new towns is quite good but living expenses there are also quite higher.
In old towns people can shop in small and cheaper grocery stores.
Q: You wrote that Shanghai is trying to strike a balance between a state-planned urban planning model and a market-oriented model. Has it succeeded?
A: Not yet I think, because as I said, there was a lot of speculation in the last 10 years. So many of the houses are chosen for earning quick money, not for living.
Since the adoption of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), the government is shifting to social housing as there is a big need for cheap houses.
But we still have to find a way to solve the problem of speculation, to prevent the similar collapse of bubbles in property prices as in the US, as well as to make those houses affordable and inhabitable.
And urban design cannot be left totally to the market, there must be some government control. The government has to keep an eye on the process so that everything will go in the right direction.
As for the quality of the houses in new towns, I've seen cracks in walls, leaks and other problems, but I also see these problems in expensive houses sometimes.
So it's not just a good quality or bad quality issue. Often the quality of the houses in new towns is indeed a problem.
For instance the property on the cover of my book. It may look quite good at first sight but if we go inside, we'll find there isn't much maintenance.
The elevator is roughly used and nobody cleans it. And the buildings' walls used to be white. But People parked their bikes close to them. After one year, the walls were full of dirt and were turned gray or almost black. So maintenance leaves much to be desired.
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