All text and photos taken from the Tianjin Eco-City Development’s official website:

The Master Plan of Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city lays down the guidelines for the Eco-city’s development as a scaleable, practicable and replicable model for sustainable development for other cities in China and around the world. It was jointly developed by the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design, the Tianjin Institute of Urban Planning and Design, and the Singapore planning team led by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. 

The basic building block of the Eco-city Master Plan is a single cell, or “Eco-Cell”, that serves to integrate the different land uses within a modular 400m by 400m grid. Educational institutions, commercial areas, workplaces and recreational areas are distributed within these Eco-Cells and located close to the residential areas to minimize commuting. Together, these Eco-Cells add up to form neighbourhoods, districts, and eventually the urban centres.

Another highlight of the Master Plan is an “Eco-Valley” running through the Eco-city as a north-south connector. It serves as the main ecological green spine and incorporates water-sensitive urban design elements, such as eco-swales and dry streams. The Eco-Valley will connect the major transit nodes, residential areas, community facilities and commercial centres. It will be a key public open space and focal point of the Eco-city. 

All photos taken from Flickr.

“Pavement to Parks” a growing movement and planning practice in the US.

See this post from a couple of days ago for Part #1 of this interesting interview with a Shanghai Urban Planner.  It provides an interesting perspective on China’s current approach to urbanizing the country.

Here is the second part of the interview and the following are some of its best quotes:

The issue of reconstruction aside, China’s cities are also too big and there’s a real problem with urban sprawl. All the cities in the Yangtze River and Pearl River deltas are expanding outwards, and if you include industrial zones, villages and towns, plus all the highways and rail lines, human construction may have already reached an ecological limit. 

…There are underlying errors in the government’s understanding of cities. For example, there is a misconception that bigger cities are better cities. But it isn’t a question of size, it’s a question of comfort, efficiency, environmental quality, liveability and, in particular, suitability for different types of people to flourish.

The appearance of many European cities hasn’t changed for a century, but internal and underground facilities have been modernised in order to save energy, protect the environment and increase comfort. When Europeans design new areas, they do so on a human scale, as far as possible using pedestrianised zones, cutting down on car journeys, reducing energy use and making the city diverse and green. Although China also has slogans about putting people first, it doesn’t happen that way. 

The marker of liveability for a city is its human scale. The biggest issue for Chinese cities is the roads – they are too wide, and the density of the network is too low. In Shanghai’s Lujiazui [a major financial district], the roads are too big, the huge buildings leave people feeling alienated, the space is badly organised and living and travelling are extremely inconvenient. 

via dezeen

Pics of Britain’s sexy new ride. 007-styles.