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Urbanization should not mean high-rises
By Wan Lixin |
March 15, 2013, Friday
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WHILE many people are enthusiastic about the mandate to urbanize, many concerned municipal deputies to the ongoing National People?s Congress (NPC) are discussing what it should not mean.
To sum up, urbanization should definitely not be equated with reckless property development, it should not mean more replicas of the hundreds of drab look-alike cities and townships we already have enough of, and it should not even mean giving migrant workers merely urban hukou (household registration), according to Xinmin Evening News on Tuesday.
Sheng Yafei, an NPC deputy from Shanghai, said that after visiting many emerging new towns, he found to his dismay that many villages are being urbanized by simply erecting multi-story buildings, but are devoid of public services and infrastructure available in true cities.
He warned that urbanization should not spring up anywhere, but should proceed with great caution, on the basis of careful investigation of whether local conditions can support urbanization, or if it is more advisable to keep the rustic scene untarnished.
NPC deputy Zhang Zhao'an agreed. He said whether to urbanize or not should be a natural development subject to local resources. It's better letting things go on as they are where local natural conditions do not support urbanization, than erecting multi-story buildings for the sake of urbanization. Where urbanization is unnecessary, great effort should be made not to spoil rustic peace and ecology.
"If you visit any of the over 600 cities in China, it is virtually impossible to tell which is which by the street scene," he said.
Clearly, the cities we see today - especially those proud self-styled "international metropolises" - do not deserve much approval, to say nothing of adulation. As a matter of fact, many people are fed up with these "cities," but lack a way out.
"Successful urbanization should not mean the duplication of the current mode of cities, with all those ailments peculiar to big cities," observed Sun Yaoming, a village Party chief and NPC deputy. Sun added that a small town should be distinct from big cities. Villages should not be homogeneous in their appearances, he said.
There is definitely a limit to the maximum reasonable size of any city. In cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the influx of migrants has put great strain on local infrastructure and overextended public services, making urban existence a byword for noise, congestion, and pollution.
In spite of all drawbacks, there is one element that makes local officials so enthused about the vision to urbanize: unbridled property development. In this process, farmland gives way to squares, farmers' dwellings are razed to erect high-rises, and traditional country fairs are being replaced by commercial complexes.
According to Dai Hairong, an NPC deputy, in urbanization, the emphasis should be on solving urban problems, such as migrant workers' employment, residence, social security, and their children's education in their adopted cities. Clearly, that's much more complicated than merely giving them symbolic urban hukou.
Would urbanization still hold the same appeal as it does today if it meant less property development than giving migrant workers the respect and benefits that every urban resident deserves? That's anyone's guess.
Confucius once cautioned, "If language is incorrect, then what is said does not concord with what was meant; and if what is said does not concord with what was meant, what is to be done cannot be effected."
There is an urgency to define what urbanization means, and what it should not mean.
To sum up, urbanization should definitely not be equated with reckless property development, it should not mean more replicas of the hundreds of drab look-alike cities and townships we already have enough of, and it should not even mean giving migrant workers merely urban hukou (household registration), according to Xinmin Evening News on Tuesday.
Sheng Yafei, an NPC deputy from Shanghai, said that after visiting many emerging new towns, he found to his dismay that many villages are being urbanized by simply erecting multi-story buildings, but are devoid of public services and infrastructure available in true cities.
He warned that urbanization should not spring up anywhere, but should proceed with great caution, on the basis of careful investigation of whether local conditions can support urbanization, or if it is more advisable to keep the rustic scene untarnished.
NPC deputy Zhang Zhao'an agreed. He said whether to urbanize or not should be a natural development subject to local resources. It's better letting things go on as they are where local natural conditions do not support urbanization, than erecting multi-story buildings for the sake of urbanization. Where urbanization is unnecessary, great effort should be made not to spoil rustic peace and ecology.
"If you visit any of the over 600 cities in China, it is virtually impossible to tell which is which by the street scene," he said.
Clearly, the cities we see today - especially those proud self-styled "international metropolises" - do not deserve much approval, to say nothing of adulation. As a matter of fact, many people are fed up with these "cities," but lack a way out.
"Successful urbanization should not mean the duplication of the current mode of cities, with all those ailments peculiar to big cities," observed Sun Yaoming, a village Party chief and NPC deputy. Sun added that a small town should be distinct from big cities. Villages should not be homogeneous in their appearances, he said.
There is definitely a limit to the maximum reasonable size of any city. In cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the influx of migrants has put great strain on local infrastructure and overextended public services, making urban existence a byword for noise, congestion, and pollution.
In spite of all drawbacks, there is one element that makes local officials so enthused about the vision to urbanize: unbridled property development. In this process, farmland gives way to squares, farmers' dwellings are razed to erect high-rises, and traditional country fairs are being replaced by commercial complexes.
According to Dai Hairong, an NPC deputy, in urbanization, the emphasis should be on solving urban problems, such as migrant workers' employment, residence, social security, and their children's education in their adopted cities. Clearly, that's much more complicated than merely giving them symbolic urban hukou.
Would urbanization still hold the same appeal as it does today if it meant less property development than giving migrant workers the respect and benefits that every urban resident deserves? That's anyone's guess.
Confucius once cautioned, "If language is incorrect, then what is said does not concord with what was meant; and if what is said does not concord with what was meant, what is to be done cannot be effected."
There is an urgency to define what urbanization means, and what it should not mean.
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