| Living in a Small Town |
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| Date:26/08/2006 |
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By Dai Qian
Living in a city has been the dream of many
villagers. But now more and more urban dwellers wish to live in small towns
outside big cities to regain the long-lost simplicity: listening to bird singing
and watching sunrise and sunset. At the same time, an increasingly large number
of peasants are leaving for the urban areas.
All these are attributable to
Shanghai's implementation of an urbanization strategy that highlights the
construction of new cities and central towns in the suburban areas. City
expansion has all along taken two forms: contiguous expansion or building
satellite cities. But both forms have shortcomings. City expansion requires huge
fiscal expenditure. How to achieve as much as possible by spending as little as
possible? The idea of the Shanghai Municipal Government is manifested in its
"one city plus nine towns" concept, which means that urbanization will be
achieved locally with the support of industries. In recent years and especially
in the past two years since Shanghai won the bid for the World Expo, the
municipal government has been executing the strategy and re-distributing city
functions. Locating industries in the suburbs has attracted urban dwellers to
these areas. At the same time, it has also offered more job opportunities to
local peasants so that they can stay where they are. This helped ease pressure
on the city and provided a way out for the organic development of the city. The
execution of this strategy has not only solved the housing problem, but also
greatly enhanced the level of local urbanization.
In the new round of city
and town construction, the pioneer projects such as the Songjiang New City, the
Zhujiajiao in Qingpu, the Anting in Jiading, the Luodian in Baoshan, the Gaoqiao
in Pudong, the Pujiang in Minhang, and the port of Luchao have all demonstrated
their distinctiveness. For example, the town of Zhujiajiao in Qingpu District
highlights the landscape of an ancient town noted for rivers and lakes,
demonstrates the planning concept of a modern town, and is capable of boosting
development through tourism. The town of Pujiang in Minhang District emphasizes
the building of urban forests and arrange the people's work and living in the
80,000-mu forests. The town of Anting, on the other hand, takes the automobile
industry as its basis and works hard to present itself as an auto town. The town
of Luodian in Baoshan District takes on a Nordic look. All of these towns have a
common point: emphasizing sustainable development, ecological protection and
industrial support.
The new town of Anting is the central residential area of
Shanghai's international auto town. Ecological environment will be an overriding
consideration for the construction of the new towns. For this purpose, many new
measures have been taken to promote harmonization between man and nature. For
example, all the residential buildings in the new town will use a water-based
central energy supply system to replace the existing detached, cabinet or
central air-conditioning. This energy supply system works on the principle of
heat exchange, and controls the indoor temperature through the heat exchange
between water and air. The flowing water in the energy supply pipes can be both
hot and cold so as to provide coolness in summer and heating in winter. The
inhabitants do not have to rely on air-conditioning and can live in a natural
environment. The new town will have a converging central square, an organic
street layout and a proper scale. It also has cordial neighborhoods and a water
system that forms the complete bounds of such neighborhoods. As the central
residential area of the international auto city, the fast development of the F1
Circuit, the auto show park, the Tongji auto college and the central business
district will offer solid industrial support for the new town and form a
concentration of industries and population.
The town of Gaoqiao has a history
of 800 years. Its cultural site "Old Street" and the exotic windmill villas are
separated by a stretch of water that runs through the town. This is how the town
looks in 2004. The port of Gaoqiao will form an east-west axis of ecological
scenery. South of the axis will be a 100-meter-wide open riverside park. While
the modern scenic zone in the north of the port will preserve some traditional
Chinese architecture, the specialty scenic zone across the port will be
developed into a luxury residential community. Taking full advantage of the
geographic features of being close to river and sea, the town will organically
integrate natural scenery with man-made environment, traditional landscape with
modern style, national characteristics and exotic tastes. Trees and grass will
cover more than 60 percent of the town's area.
The town of Zhujiajiao in
Qingpu District is a 47-square-kilometer small fan-shaped town that boasts of a
natural beauty of lake and mountain. It is also Shanghai's best preserved
ancient town in the region. Noted for small bridges, flowing water and
residential houses and for a rich cultural heritage, the town is moving from
isolation to opening up, from tradition to modernity. Promoting tourism through
culture and building the ancient town through tourism, the town is trying to
turn itself into a new town that integrates tourism with vacation and recreation
and combines the culture of an ancient town with the culture of water.
The
new town of Songjiang is undoubtedly the best version of a small town Shanghai
plans to build. Songjiang is one of Shanghai's four major historical cities and
has the longest history among them. It can be called the "root of Shanghai". The
development of the new town will bring the best of both its ancient charm and
its modern appeal. It will have a Gothic church against a background of a
country landscape. It will have traditional country houses noted for white
walls, gray tiles and unique window frames. It will also have new high-rises
built according to advanced international architectural styles plus reclusive
villas. In particular, the town of Thames designed by British architects
incorporates the planning concept and architectural style, typical of a small
town along the Thames River, and is made up of residential, commercial, living
and public blocks. One major feature of the town is emphasizing environmental
protection. All the building materials used are environment-friendly and
pollution-free. A new concept of transportation is also introduced, highlighting
battery-driven vehicles and environment-friendly buses. In addition, it has a
pedestrian system, made up of multi-functional mall, a British-style square, a
scenery island and sidewalks along main streets in housing estates. There are
also routes for jogging and cycling.
The new town of Songjiang is a
harmonious combination of the new with the old, the classic with the modern, the
explicit with the implicit, the Western and the oriental. When completed, the
new town will have 10 major projects, namely the Songjiang University, an
administrative center, the No. 9 rail transport line, a passenger depot (also a
shopping center), the central business district, the British-style town, a
central green belt, the Sixian Park, the Songjiang Hospital and an information
network. By then, it will be a medium-sized modern city, which represents the
trend of city development in the 21st century.
Living in a small town means
one has not only selected a residence, but also a lifestyle. Life in a small
town is comfortable, carefree, convenient, and away from urban bustling. Charmed
by this way of life, many urban dwellers are choosing to settle down in small
suburban towns. By the year 2010, Shanghai will have a system made up of a
central city, new cities, central towns and small towns.
Living in a small
town, one can better feel the touch of "better city, better life", a slogan for
the Expo 2010 Shanghai.
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