"Low carbon city" seems to be the most fashionable term to describe the city. Although, only a few cities, there are some good examples of ecological low-carbon development. For example, the solar energy city of Baoding city and the Shanghai World Expo Park are running through the concept of low-carbon from site selection, planning to construction and operation, and Hangzhou, Wuxi and other places have successively issued standards to measure ecological low-carbon cities. These cities are trying to explore the path of ecological low-carbon development.
However, we use the concept of "low carbon", is the city really in low-carbon development? Is low carbon really realized? From some national eco city models, there is no definite answer. Professor Yu Kongjian, Dean of the school of architecture and landscape design of Peking University, said that many cities in China may fall into the misunderstanding of ecological low-carbon development.
Misunderstanding 1: developing ecological city = creating urban landscape
Many cities put forward the development of ecological city, that is, to build square, to build artificial garden, to beautify the road, and to plant expensive tree species and seedlings. Some cities even hardened their river beds with cement for their beauty. On the surface, these cities seem beautiful. In fact, these practices do not achieve low-carbon development, but will increase carbon emissions to a certain extent.
Misunderstanding 2: ecological city = building ecological new city
More than 20 cities in China have proposed to build a certain ecological new city, including Tianjin, Guangzhou, Qingdao, Ningbo, Tongling and other large, medium and small cities are advocating the construction of ecological new city. Many cities put forward the slogan of building an ecological city, in fact, they are building ecological new areas. These new areas are far away from the old areas and keep separate from the relevant facilities of the old city.
They are a closed "ecological kingdom", isolated from the old city, the context of the city and even the citizens. On the surface, the ecological new city is more beautiful and modern than the old city. In fact, they are far away from the city's most dynamic citizens and urban culture. A gorgeous dress, a pair of empty appearance, can people feel their beauty and charm?
Mistake 3: eco city = high tech investment
On May 30, this year, at the international smart city conference of Beijing fair, scholars attending the meeting and responsible persons of some companies proposed many technologies that could be applied and improved in eco city construction. When it comes to eco city and low-carbon city construction, some of our cities are busy with projects, pursuing novelty and novelty of technology. Many cities choose to build high standard greening facilities, build high standard garbage and sewage treatment facilities, and introduce advanced technology and equipment, but do not seriously evaluate the application cost of equipment and technology.
Due to its novel technology, the pneumatic refuse transportation system displayed at the Shanghai World Expo has been favored by many low-carbon eco cities in China. Some cities often invest hundreds of millions of yuan to carry out relevant technical transformation and equipment introduction, because the application cost is too high, many sites and facilities are idle or even abandoned.
Some developers take ecology and low-carbon as the development concept of urban housing, and use some environmental protection and energy-saving materials in new buildings, which greatly increases the construction cost. When it comes to cost, I'm afraid that more than 200 mayors who proposed to build eco cities have not carefully assessed the amount of money needed to invest in the construction of ecological low-carbon cities.
Rethinking on Ecological low carbon city
Up to now, there is no universally accepted and easy to understand definition of ecological low-carbon city. Li Tie, director of the China Center for urban and small town reform and development, believes that there should be different standards to define ecological low-carbon cities in different stages of development. Yang Baojun, vice president of the China Academy of urban planning and design, said that an ecological city should be a city where nature, economy and society coexist.
Zhang Tingwei, a professor for life at the University of Illinois, said in an exclusive interview with city china.com in Guilin, Guangxi, that the goal of an ecological low-carbon city is to pursue a beautiful city. What is beauty? Natural simplicity is beauty, natural harmonious coexistence is beauty, and harmonious development of human and society is beauty. An ecological low-carbon city should first respect nature, urban context and human living environment.
Professor Yu Kongjian stressed that for the ecological and low-carbon development of cities, we should first think of a free ecological and low-carbon maintenance system, that is, nature. Nature is the most beautiful and inexpensive ecological maintenance system, and also the best system to absorb carbon emissions.
The main wealth of the society is created by the city, and the core subject of creating these wealth is the people in the city. When we develop ecological and low-carbon city, we should consider most urban people, not a small part.
Ecological and low-carbon city must be a healthy city, not a sick city. A healthy city is functional. Liu Taige, former director of Singapore's Urban Development Bureau, said in an exclusive interview with city china.com on March 24 in Shanghai that, like a person, a healthy person will emit a kind of simple beauty from the inside out. With a little decoration and dressing up, people can feel very beautiful. However, if they are not healthy, it is difficult to make people feel beautiful no matter how they dress up. The improvement of urban function is a systematic project.
Many city governments, including Chinese cities, regard the improvement of urban function as a city image project. These image projects may not be able to give full play to their functions in the end. It is precisely because the city is built for the people who work and live here, so we should make the function of the city perfect, and we must let these people have convenient and comfortable employment and life in the city.
