China 2.0: MEGA Cities, SMART Cities

[ahojunk]

Industry city sets example of action in pollution control
2017-04-15 12:05 | Xinhua | Editor: Li Yan

It was with some reluctance that Ma Xiaobing upgraded his kebab stall by investing in a smoke control device, but he is doing much better business now.

"In the past, we roasted four legs of lamb each day. Currently, we need about 20 a day," said Ma of Lanzhou, Gansu Province. "There are more diners and we are busier than ever."

Lanzhou, a city in the Yellow River valley in the country's arid northwest, was once among China's most polluted cities. Pollution was so bad that people even joked that the town did not show up on satellite images.

Strong pollution control measures have lowered PM10 and PM2.5 densities in the city to less than 75 percent of 2013 levels. Last year, the annual number of blue sky days increased by 50 to reach 243.

The provincial capital has become "a model of air quality improvement," according to a central inspection team. Annual coal consumption in the city has been reduced from 10 million tonnes in 2012 to around six million tonnes last year.

One of the things Lanzhou has done is to rally grassroots officials into the battle. Yang Mingyan, a subdistrict office clerk, is one of the 10,000 pollution supervisors in the city.

"Every morning, I check the area I am responsible for to see who is burning what, and whether substandard coal or wood are being used. If I find a problem, I will ask whoever is responsible to stop. If they will not listen to me, I report the matter to superior authorities."

All cities have anti-pollution policies, but in Lanzhou these policies are very strictly imposed.

"Some cities are afraid or unable to deal with big companies in environmental protection for fear it will affect their economy, but Lanzhou has no such problem," said Xing Lifeng, deputy director of Lanzhou environmental protection bureau.

The bureau even fined a leading state-owned petrochemical enterprise and has asked some companies to apologize to citizens.

Some officials were punished for failing to properly apply themselves to their pollution control duties while others who showed more enthusiasm were promoted.

"In fact, many of our measures are not very innovative, but in Lanzhou polluters are subject to the full force of the law." said Xing.

Some heavily polluted cities, such as Shijiazhuang and Zhengzhou, have sent officials to Lanzhou to study its experiences first hand.

Many of Lanzhou's successes could easily be transplanted to other places, said Ma Jianmin of Lanzhou University.

For example, online monitoring data is all well and good, but it is standard practice in Lanzhou for personnel to actually visit big polluters and see for themselves exactly what is going on, he said.

The government expects good air quality days to account for more than 80 percent in all cities at prefectural level and above by 2020. It's an ambitious target, and one that has not been met yet in Lanzhou.

"Lanzhou still has some way to go to meet the goal. Pollution decreases initially by dealing with that which is easiest to control. Pollution control is therefore increasingly difficult and our work becomes harder with every success," said Chen Yimin, a Lanzhou environmental official.

.

 

[TaiShang]

Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei pool $15b rail fund to boost integration
chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-04-19

File photo shows high-speed rail in China. [Photo/Xinhua]

Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province have set up a 100 billion yuan ($14.54 billion) joint railway fund to boost regional integration, authorities announced on Tuesday.

About 54 billion yuan, or 90 percent of the initial installment, comes from social capital with a time period of 10 years, according to Tianjin Daily.

The fund plans to invest 70 percent on inter-city railway construction, and the rest on land development along the routes.

Regional projects, including Beijing-Tangshan rail, Shijiazhuang-Hengshui-Cangzhou rail, and a second one connecting Beijing and Tianjin, which stops at Binhai New Area, will start construction this year.

Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Railway Investment Co, the lead coordinator of the fund, signed agreement with 12 financial institutions, including the country's big five banks, Ping An Asset Management Co, and Capital Development Investment Fund Management Co in Beijing.

The fund is part of year-long effort by local authorities to renovate financing model in railway construction and attract social capital under market mechanism.

In all, Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei will see an addition of nine inter-city rail lines by 2020, with a total estimated investment of 247 billion yuan, according to a notice released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Commute time between major cities and their surrounding counties will be significantly reduced.

China rolled out the integration plan for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei in 2015 to address urban problems such as traffic and air pollution and seek balanced development of the region.

@AndrewJin , @cirr

 

[onebyone]

Lying on the western end of the Great Wall, the capital of Ningxia autonomous region is ZTE’s showcase of a smart city, an industry segment that may grow to US$1.6 trillion by 2020, according to Frost & Sullivan


PUBLISHED : Friday, 05 May, 2017, 9:30pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 06 May, 2017, 8:30am

China may eventually bridge the “last mile” to becoming the world’s largest economy on the back of the hundreds of so-called smart cities now being established across the country.

At the end of March, it was estimated that more than 500 mainland cities, including 95 per cent of provincial capitals and 83 per cent of designated prefecture-level cities, were set to be transformed into smart cities.

The size of this initiative is likely to dwarf any similar undertaking around the world.

Leading this ambitious effort is the city of Yinchuan (銀川), a community of two million people on the western end of the Great Wall of China near the Gobi Desert in Ningxia.





This is a community of mostly Hui ethnic community, as unlikely a place as any for a smart-city experiment.


Smart cities are loosely defined are those that have deployed information and communications technologies across various functional public-sector areas, including transport, energy, governance, security and safety, according to research firm and consultancy IHS Markit.

It said the key drivers behind the launch of smart-city projects around the world were increased population growth in urban centres, demand for energy efficiency, intercity competition for investments, municipal cost reductions and efforts to improve citizens’ quality of life.

The projects also represent huge business as Frost & Sullivan has forecast the global market for smart-city products and services will reach US$1.6 trillion by 2020.

Yinchuan was not expected to be highlighted as quite such a model city at the beginning, but the local government was pushing hard for recognition as it tried to integrate smart initiatives instead of some simple “Safe City” models commonly adopted in most cities.

The Smart Yinchuan project identified five major components to improve the lives of residents: tackling congestion in transportation, environmental degradation, crime and public security, inefficient local government services and enhancing access to health services.

China’s smart-city projects alone are estimated to offer US$10 billion worth of business opportunities each year, according to Lian Yuxi, the deputy general manager at ZTE Corp’s smart-city division.

Shenzhen-based ZTE, China’s largest listed telecommunications equipment supplier, forged an agreement with the Yinchuan government in June 2014 to develop its smart-city systems.

The technology giant’s sweeping digital transformation plan for Yinchuan covers 10 systems and 13 modules, including 4G networks, smart transportation and data-sharing between government departments, which could serve as a blueprint for hundreds of mainland cities to stimulate economic growth by supporting business development and attracting fresh investments and even new residents.

A visit to Yinchuan in February last year prompted Premier Li Keqiang to call on other mainland cities to observe and adopt its approach to smart development.

Before Yinchuan was put under that intense national spotlight, 65-year-old retiree You Yulan made the move to a residential complex there known as “Future City” in May 2015.

“I feel very happy to live here,” You told the South China Morning Post. “I sold another apartment to move here just for its intelligent facilities.”

You said she relocated from another part of Yinchuan after buying a 92-square-metre flat at Future City, where 2,800 households reside, for about 500,000 yuan (US$72,500).

The price You paid was slightly higher than the average cost of flats in Yinchuan at that time, but she said it was well worth it for her new community’s intelligent amenities. Her three younger siblings

have also moved to the same neighbourhood.

At Future City, You rents a wearable device the size of a regular mobile phone to help check her blood pressure, blood sugar levels and other vital signs. She can instantly see the results through an app on her smartphone.

When the results show an abnormal state, You receives a phone call from a doctor she has never met, who then suggests a further check-up at a nearby hospital.


The health data of Future City residents who use the kit are stored on an online platform and shared with authorised medical institutions as reference whenever users go for a medical check-up.

Those represent the basic elements of Yinchuan’s “Smart Health” initiative, which has yet to be rolled out in other communities of the city.

By paying 200 yuan annually, residents at Future City can secure the services of an online doctor to review self-administered health check results and offer prognosis. The community also has a medical room to provide basic health check services.

Guo Baichun, the vice-mayor at Yinchuan, said the number of smart communities like Future City would be expanded to 500 around Yinchuan by the end of this year, up from 20 at present. The city’s smart initiatives will eventually cover all of its 1,919 communities.


Apart from health care, residents would also have access to free Wi-fi hot spots as well as connected applications like waste management and grocery delivery services, according to Guo.

Entrances to communities like Future City are equipped with a face recognition system, so building doors automatically open to registered residents. Police are alerted when wanted persons are detected by the system.





Powered garbage bins in these communities open when people are close by to throw their rubbish. These can compress waste to fit more garbage and are equipped with SIM cards to notify cleaners when it is full and suggest the best routes when several bins need to be emptied.


Thanks to data-sharing between local government agencies, the time to obtain a business licence in Yinchuan has been reduced to a day from 25 days before. An applicant need only file one online application, which will be processed by four government departments in one working day.

ZTE, which provides smart-city solutions in more than 160 cities worldwide, said Yinchuan’s highly advanced metropolitan information system and telecommunication network allowed for so-called big data analytics and internet-of-things technology to be implemented for the public’s benefit.

Yinchuan’s smart-city systems and all the information processed are stored and managed in a data centre operated by ZTE and the municipal government.

A data centre is a secure facility built to house large-capacity servers and data storage systems and equipped with multiple power sources and high-bandwidth internet connections.

To meet growing user demand, the capacity of Yinchuan’s data centre will be expanded to house 100,000 servers later this year.

“Yinchuan is one of the very few [smart] cities to adopt a ‘top-level design’ to lay out its plan for the entire city,” Lian said.

“Yinchuan serves as a model for other smart-city projects. It has demonstrated how new technologies can help local governments deliver improved services to residents.”

Forward-looking regulations have also been passed by Yinchuan to safeguard all the information it collects and shares under its smart-city initiative.

“In the information society, people need to provide certain personal information to avail of services, just like when one provides a correspondence address to enjoy e-commerce services,” Guo said.

He pointed out that there was no data privacy issue so long as the information was managed by the city’s Big Data Bureau.

“Most smart cities in China are not really that smart,” he added. “Some cities develop it in concept or in PowerPoint form. Some only share data and deploy information for public security.”

The development of smart cities across the country has also proved difficult because of issues mainly related to financing, operations and maintenance.

The Yinchuan government has adopted a public-private partnership model in which several state-owned enterprises and ZTE set up a joint venture to invest and take charge of the smart-city initiatives.

In return, the Yinchuan government has committed to spend 300 million yuan annually on information technology services for a 50-year period, according to Guo.

Wu Lianfeng, a vice-president at IDC China, said many local governments has been hesitant to pursue smart-city developments because “there is no viable business model yet for certain livelihood-related smart facilities, which basically consume investment without providing any returns”.

While Singapore as well as cities in Japan and South Korea are pushing forward with their smart-city plans, Wu said Chinese cities like Yinchuan were currently the front runners in the deployment of advanced information technology infrastructure to support smart-city developments.




This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as:
Smart new world
http://www.scmp.com/tech/china-tech/article/2093190/city-edge-gobi-desert-chinas-smartest

 

[Shotgunner51]

The Yinchuan government has adopted a public-private partnership model in which several state-owned enterprises and ZTE set up a joint venture to invest and take charge of the smart-city initiatives.

Well done Yinchuan city and ZTE!

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

In 2013, global spending on grid modernization was nearly $15 billion, in which China tops the world and spent $4.3 billion (29% share of global) on smart grid investments, while the U.S. spent $3.6 billion (24% share of the world),

What do you guys mean by smart meter implementation?

If you mean electric, water, and other utility meters being hooked up so a utility person does not have to physically go up to a residence and read the dials well that has been standard since the 1980's is many places in the US. I think early systems had people in trucks who would drive up and down streets sending out a radio message to have the meter "wake up" and transmit a short burst of data. Not exactly sure how it works now but there are no trucks driving around anymore (probably more powerful transmitters). Certainly nobody is walking on my property reading dials. I'm quite positive they don't do this in some of the more trigger-happy gun states where walking on somebody's property unannounced would not be a wise move.

I don't think US spending would be high in this area since it is already entrenched.

 

[Shotgunner51]

I don't think US spending would be high in this area since it is already entrenched.

Development of an integrated, information technology (IT)-enabled, national electric power grid offers significant benefits for any country. Such a “smart grid” supports the expansion of distributed, often renewable, electricity production; lowers costs; promotes energy efficiency; and improves both the reliability and security of the entire production, transmission, and distribution system. Smart electricity meters are an important part of such a system, as they provide system operators an IT-enabled interface with residential and commercial consumers as well as with power generators, who are also increasingly producers of distributed electricity.

Smart meters were introduced in the United States and grew in market share compared with
analog meters during the 1980s and 1990s, while such developments as the Internet and
better energy storage helped to improve the technology. State-level policies and incentives and local utilities’ willingness to adopt the new technology are also important drivers of U.S. smart meter penetration rates. Both California and Texas have implemented smart grid policies, in part due to rising energy consumption. Many states with high penetration rates for smart electricity meters in 2012 experienced a large increase in total smart meter adoption between 2008 and 2012. The timing of this jump varies by state and may be attributed in part to electric utilities engaging in large smart meter rollouts, some of which came in response to the ARRA funding. California and the District of Columbia topped the list of smart meter penetration rates, at 87.1% percent and 70.5% percent respectively, in 2012. At the opposite end of the spectrum, six states still had advanced smart meter penetration rates of under 1% as of December 2012: New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia. Overall, 28 U.S. states are estimated to have smart meter penetration rates of less than 25% by 2014 (figure 1).

China spent US $4.3 billion on smart grid investments in 2013 as the U.S. market contracted 33 percent to $3.6 billion, according to new figures from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). It is the first time that China has topped North American spending in smart grid investment. In North America, the market has slowed to a halt now that funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for smart grid projects has all been spent. The State Grid Corporation of China controls most of the electrical grid in the country, so when it decides to move forward with metering it can do so more quickly than in a fragmented, deregulated market.

“The fundamental drivers of the smart grid—greater grid reliability, further integration of renewable energy, and improved demand-side management—are stronger than ever,” Colin McKerracher, senior energy-smart technologies analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said in a statement.​

Citation:
https://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/id-037smart_meters_final.pdf
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise...d/china-pushes-past-us-in-smart-grid-spending

 

[onebyone]

China 2020 urbanization plan centers around megacities.

Jing-Jin-Ji is designed to hold 110 million people and merge outer parts of Beijing, Hebei and Tianjin.

In April, China announced plans to create Xiongan, an enormous new city 60 miles south of Beijing which sits within the Jing-Jin-Ji urban megaregion. While details are still emerging about the future of Xiongan – which will cover the counties of Xiongxian, Rongcheng and Anxin, as well as the Baiyangdian wetlands – reports envisage a city that will grow to three times the size of New York. It will incorporate universities, institutions and residents from the capital, helping alleviate pressure on housing and public services – although not before prompting an initial land-buying frenzy in the area cited for development.

The government’s grand ambition is for “a strategy crucial for a millennium to come,” the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Morgan Stanley expects the investment in infrastructure and relocation to run about 2 trillion yuan ($290 billion) in the first 15 years.

Xiongan spans three counties. The infrastructure build-out will cover 100 square kilometers initially, expand to 200 square kilometers in the mid-term and eventually occupy a space of about 2,000 square kilometers, similar to Shenzhen now, the government says.

The development of the Xiongan New Area was compared in a government circular on Saturday to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the Pudong New Area in Shanghai.

President Xi Jinping’s long-range vision is to transform a sleepy region known for its orchards and lotus flowers into a glittering new technology and innovation hub teeming with companies, universities and world-class transportation and business infrastructure. “In five years, Xiongan New Area is going to be the most high-end tech center,” said Xie, 42. “This new area is going to drive China’s economy. It’s President Xi Jinping’s project.”

Jing-Jin-Ji region is already makes up 10% of China’s GDP, with many factories and manufacturing hubs being relocated to the new cluster. A new $36bn (£28bn) rail plan and 600 miles of new track for Jing-Jin-Ji was approved in December, with plans for high-speed trains to connect the outlying cities of the new megaregion to central Beijing on a 30-minute commute.

China’s National Plan on New Urbanisation for 2014-2020 outlines 11 “urban clusters” (regions incorporating multiple cities and smaller towns) to receive additional investment.
The largest will be Jing-Jin-Ji (110 million);
the region around Chengdu and Chongqing (projected population of 60 million);

The urban clusters will get infrastructure to build fast rail transport that allows people to commute large distances quickly, and investment to develop the second/third/fourth-tier cities in that region to hold devolved functions from the main city – such as moving universities out of Beijing to Xiongan.
the Yangtze Delta cluster around Shanghai (around 90 million); and
the Yangtze River Middle Reaches cluster around Wuhan (projected population 29 million
http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/0...acity-investments-over-the-next-15-years.html

 

[Han Patriot]

This scale of urbanization is unprecedented in human history. We are literally creating urban clusters at 100mil each.

 

[TaiShang]

Top 15 'new first-tier' cities in China
chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-05-15

A total of 15 cities have joined the club of China's new first-tier cities due to their commercial charm, according to a report by the China Business Network (CBN) Co Ltd.

The ranking, released by CBNweekly magazine on May 7, assesses commercial attraction of 338 cities based on five indicators: concentration of commercial resources, city's pivotability, citizen vitality, variety of lifestyle, and flexibility in the future.

The list includes four first-tier cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen), 15 new first-tier cities, 30 second-tier cities, 70 third-tier cities, 90 fourth-tier cities and 129 fifth-tier cities.

Let's take a look at China's 15 new first-tier cities.


A man and a woman pose for a photo with the 15-meter-tall panda sculpture on the Chengdu International Finance Square (IFS) building in Chengdu, Sichuan province on April 19, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

See here: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2017top10/2017-05/15/content_29343927.htm

@AndrewJin , @Dungeness , @GS Zhou , @ahojunk

 

[AndrewJin]

Top 15 'new first-tier' cities in China
chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-05-15

A total of 15 cities have joined the club of China's new first-tier cities due to their commercial charm, according to a report by the China Business Network (CBN) Co Ltd.

The ranking, released by CBNweekly magazine on May 7, assesses commercial attraction of 338 cities based on five indicators: concentration of commercial resources, city's pivotability, citizen vitality, variety of lifestyle, and flexibility in the future.

The list includes four first-tier cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen), 15 new first-tier cities, 30 second-tier cities, 70 third-tier cities, 90 fourth-tier cities and 129 fifth-tier cities.

Let's take a look at China's 15 new first-tier cities.


A man and a woman pose for a photo with the 15-meter-tall panda sculpture on the Chengdu International Finance Square (IFS) building in Chengdu, Sichuan province on April 19, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

See here: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2017top10/2017-05/15/content_29343927.htm

@AndrewJin , @Dungeness , @GS Zhou , @ahojunk

MY hometown is in!

 

[TaiShang]

MY hometown is in!

View attachment 396906 View attachment 396907 View attachment 396909 View attachment 396908

Welcome to the club of the first tiers .

 

[Shotgunner51]

China accelerates commercial use of NB-IoT for industrial applications
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in China announced its decision to accelerate the commercial use of NB-IoT for utilities and smart city applications.
30 May 2017

According to China Daily, the The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is encouraging enterprises to promote the technical transformation of broadband network infrastructure, such as fiber broadband and Long Term Evolution (LTE) enhancement, as well as expand the deployment of cellular IoT and accelerate the commercial use of NB-IoT.

The commercial use of Narrowband IoT technology will be used for industrial internet and urban public service and management, including the development of "smart factor[ies] and [the] internet of vehicles."

Domestic telecom operators have also reportedly expanded the deployment of network infrastructure under the guidance of the ministry.

Telecommunications companies such as China Telecom, China Mobile and several other listed companies are in the planning or deployment phase of NB-IoT technology.

China Mobile is said to have started an outfield test on Narrowband IoT in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Fuzhou, with commercialisation of the technology planned for 2018.

NB-IoT smart metering

A domestic smart metering solution provider, Viewshine Ltd, said in April its NB-IoT smart metering had entered the trial stage.

Hangzhou Innover Technology Co Ltd also announced in January that the company's first NB-IoT smart gas meter had started trial operation in the urban area of Shanghai. The NB-IoT technology enables the gas meter to upload gas data and real time abnormal running state to backend.

A researcher of China Unicom Labs told Shanghai Securities News, "IoT will be used in the fields of public utilities and smart city and industries including smart metering, smart parking and intelligent security," says China Daily.​

Li Zhenya, an analyst of Zhongtai Securities, commented that "the launch of NB-IoT sets a unified protocol standard for the transport layer and the involvement of operators increases the speed and scale of IoT, which can provide a better material basis for the development of the application layer in downstream."​

"The full explosion of IoT industrial chain is at the corner."​

https://www.metering.com/news/china-nb-iot-industrial/
http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/05-19/258202.shtml

 

[TaiShang]

SOEs, financial institutions line up to invest in new economic zone
By Li Xuanmin Source:Global Times Published: 2017/6/4

Blueprint emerges for Xiongan

Two months after the birth of China's new economic zone - Xiongan New Area - on April 1, the local government is on its way to drawing up development plans. So far, several State-owned enterprises (SOEs), financial institutions and other entities have pledged to support construction in Xiongan, in North China's Hebei Province, highlighting its potential for infrastructure construction and as a harbor for innovative industries. Although authorities have suspended real estate transactions in Xiongan, analysts predicted that it will become a testing ground for innovations in the housing market and local residency policy.

A view of Rongcheng county in Xiongan New Area, in April. Photo: CFP

Authorities have created a clearer blueprint for Xiongan New Area - a new economic zone located 100 kilometers south of Beijing in North China's Hebei Province.

The new area, which is expected to initially encompass 100 square kilometers and eventually grow to cover 2,000 square meters, is on the way to showing its "historic significance for the development of the next millennium" as highlighted in the announcement by China's State Council, the country's cabinet, on April 1, experts said.

Currently, the planning of Xiongan includes one general plan and several specific plans such as the Baiyangdian ecological environment protection, social and economic development, as well as industry layout plans, the Xinhua News Agency reported in May. Six urban planning and design institutions are working on improving the general plan.

International bids to plan and design the first 30 square kilometers of Xiongan started on April 27, according to a statement on the Hebei provincial government's website.

"After the market frenzy and speculative practices cool down, the top priority for the new area is to get an early start on scientific long-term sustainable planning," said Zhang Gui, executive director of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei research center at Hebei University of Technology.

Some of the plans concerning infrastructure construction and upgrading local industry have taken shape over the past two months, but planning in areas such as real estate remains sketchy, Zhang said.

Industrial development

In terms of infrastructure, the area's connectivity with neighboring regions has improved. For example, construction of the Beijing-Bazhou high-speed rail line, a key link between the capital's new airport and Xiongan New Area, started on May 21, the China Railway Group said.

In addition, some State-owned enterprises (SOEs), financial institutions and other entities have shown interest in investing in the economic zone.

"Such participation not only facilitates infrastructure construction in the area, but also contributes to the government's goal of making Xiongan the home of Beijing's non-capital functions, such as some of the city's administrative agencies and colleges," Zhang told the Global Times over the weekend.

As of the end of May, more than 40 centrally administrated SOEs, such as China Railway Construction Corp, Shenhua Group, PowerChina, Sinopec Group, China Shipbuilding Industry Corp and China Unicom, have pledged to support Xiongan's development. Some have proposed establishing offices in the area.

Shenzhen Huaqiang Industry Co announced in May that it would invest 60 billion yuan in six to 10 projects in the new area.

Meanwhile, the State-owned policy bank China Development Bank also said in May that it will provide 130 billion yuan in loans for road construction and infrastructure improvements in Xiongan, Xinhua reported in May.

Top Chinese universities also vowed to build educational institutions in the new area. For example, The Beijing News reported in May that Peking University will build a first-class medical center to support the new area's development.

But as the national plans focusing on high-end industries kick off, local entrepreneurs involved in labor-intensive and heavily polluting industries such as clothing manufacturing, shoe making and plastic packing have been scrambling to find alternative locations for their businesses, news portal ifeng.com reported in May.

Echoing the government's plan to turn Xiongan into an area driven by innovation, Zhang suggested that current local businesses upgrade through mergers and acquisitions or transform themselves into green industries.

"But the relocation will take time," he added.

Innovative experiments

In its announcement, the State Council equated Xiongan to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and Shanghai's Pudong New Area.

However, unlike Shenzhen and Pudong, which were designed to try out market economy reforms, the goal for Xiongan New Area is more to explore innovative models for development and fast growth, Zhang said.

One of the innovations lies in property and land market regulations, said Yan Yuejin, research director at Shanghai-based E-house China R&D Institute.

In April, local authorities in Xiongan imposed tighter restrictions and froze transactions for land and property.

The suspension came after investors swarmed the area, looking to get in early on a potential real estate boom, real estate agents told the Global Times in earlier interviews.

In the wake of the suspension, local regulators are carrying out an investigation into the new area's land, population, homes and rental apartments, in a bid to develop a complete understanding on the area's housing demand and land supply, which would lay a foundation for devising new property policies.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Yuan Tongli, temporary secretary of the Party committee in Xiongan, stressed that the economic zone will establish a housing security system, making low home prices a core competitive edge for spurring innovative industries there.

Although the housing policies have not been released, Yan suggested that Xiongan's property market will not be developed and operated in a market-oriented manner.

"The area's housing market is supposed to be dominated by low-rent and public rental apartments," Yan told the Global Times on Thursday, noting that local regulators can draw on the lessons of Singapore, where about 85 percent of the residents live in public housing that is built and maintained by the country's housing board.

Zhang agreed. He also suggested that the region should roll out flexible residency policy to attract and retain experienced and professional workers.

For example, authorities could allow people with Beijing residency who work in Xiongan to receive social and medical benefits in both the capital and the new area, experts said.

Experts see a promising future for the area.

"Just look at how Shenzhen and Shanghai Pudong, have grown from small villages into manufacturing powerhouses and leading financial centers… the prosperity of these economic zones is what we expect to see in Xiongan in the future," Yan said.

 

[onebyone]

China has several multi-billion dollar city development projects.

Nanhui New City plans to attract 800,000 residents and reportedly cost $4.5 billion.

Nanhui city illustration

Established in April 2017, Xiongan New Area is a redevelopment project planned for Hebei, China. Initially, the city will cover nearly 40 square miles, but eventually it will reach about 80 square miles — over three times the size of Manhattan. Xiongan will take 15 years to build and will have 4.5 million people. Xiongan has $290 billion in funding.

The percentage of population living in urban areas was 56.1% in April, 2016, with a target rate of 60% by 2020. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, migrant workers comprised 19.76% of China’s total population in 2013, while urban residents comprised 35.7% of the total population. The target is to help 100 million migrant workers obtain an urban hukou by 2020.

In the first quarter of 2017, the national per capita disposable income was 7,184 yuan, a nominal growth of 8.5 percent year on year or a real growth of 7.0 percent after deducting price factors. The growth rate of income was 0.1 percentage point higher than that of GDP. In terms of usual residence, the per capita disposable income of the urban residents was 9,986 yuan, a real growth of 6.3 percent after deducting price factors. The per capita disposable income of the rural residents was 3,880 yuan, up by 7.2 percent in real terms. The per capita income of the urban residents was 2.57 times of that of the rural residents, 0.02 less than the same period last year. The median of the national per capita disposable income was 6,067 yuan, a nominal increase of 6.7 percent. The per capita expenditure nationwide was 4,796 yuan, a nominal increase of 7.7 percent, or 6.2 percent after deducting price factors. By the end of February, the number of rural migrant workers was 172.53 million, which was 4.54 million more than the same period last year, or up by 2.7 percent. The monthly income of migrant workers was 3,482 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.4 percent.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/06/update-on-urbanization-in-china.html

 

[onebyone]

These Chinese megaprojects are transforming cities - and the way people live

Many urban centers, like Shanghai and Shenzhen, have gone from modest fishing villages to booming megacities.
Image: REUTERS/Carlos Barria

China is rapidly urbanizing. More than half of China's population now lives in cities, and over 100 Chinese cities have over 1 million people each.

Many urban centers, like Shanghai and Shenzhen, have gone from modest fishing villages to booming megacities. Others have become mega-ghost cities — high-tech (often luxury) urban centers that fail to attract many residents.

Here's a look at some of China's largest real estate developments that will change its cities even more.


Nanhui New City

Image: StoneCreek partners
Set to be complete by 2020, Nanhui will be a "satellite city" (kind of like an urbanized suburb) in the Pudong area of Shanghai. It's over a decade in the making. Construction, including residential complexes, eight university campuses, a museum, offices, plazas, and retail began in 2003.

Designed by the German architects Gerkan, Marg, and Partners, Nanhui New City plans to attract 800,000 residents and reportedly cost $4.5 billion.

The Chengdu Creative Centre

Image: Broadway Malyan
Designed by the UK-based architecture firm Broadway Malyan, the Chengdu Creative Centrewill be a business and residential park in Chengdu. The 2.9 million-square-foot district will feature offices, retail, and green spaces.

It is the first phase of a larger, longer-term city development project, called Tianfu, which will span 609 square miles and several counties in Chengdu. Plans for the next phases have not yet been released.

Chengdu Great City

Image: Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture
When complete by 2020, Chengdu Great City — a city located about two miles outside Chengdu — will create enough housing to accommodate 80,000 people.

The development will be less car-dependent than most metropolises in China, according to architects Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture. For example, half the road space will be devoted to pedestrian traffic, and all homes will be within a two-minute walk of a public park.

The architects also say that Chengdu Great City will generate 60% less carbon dioxide than a conventional development of similar population.

The project aims to conserve the area's existing farmland and green space — 60% of the site will be preserved for agriculture and 15% will be devoted to parks and other grassy space. The remaining 25% will feature residential and office space, roads, and sidewalks. The masterplan also includes a transit stop to connect to Chengdu.

Construction began on the 13 million-square-foot project in 2012.

Macau New Urban Zone

Image: Macau Daily Times
The Macau New Urban Zone is a 2.8-square-mile land reclamation project in Macau, China, set to be complete by the end of 2017. The land was previously lost to the Praia Grande Bay.

As one of the largest reclamations in Macau's history, it will add over 12% to the city's land area. Starting in 2018, the site will be reserved mostly for public housing projects and green spaces, divided up into five zones.

Zone A will feature housing for 57,000 people; Zone B will house offices, shops, 2,000 housing units, and a promenade; Zones C, D, and E will have 22,000 housing units, more retail, and green space.

Sunqiao Shanghai

Image: Sasaki
Shanghai is planning a 250-acre agricultural district, called Sunqiao Shanghai, which will function as a space to work, live, shop, and farm food.

It will include public plazas, parks, housing, stores, restaurants, greenhouses, and a science museum. Some of the crops will be grown hydroponically indoors (i.e. under LEDs and in nutrient-rich water rather than soil).

The masterplan was conceived by the design firm Sasaki. There isn't a construction timeline yet, but Sasaki Principal Michael Grove estimates that a crew will break ground on the project by 2018.

Xiongan New Area

Image: Miaopai
Established in April 2017, Xiongan New Area is a redevelopment project planned for Hebei, China. Initially, the city will cover nearly 40 square miles, but eventually it will reach about 80 square miles — over three times the size of Manhattan.

The masterplan and construction timeline is not yet set, but city officials saythat it will include new housing, offices, universities, and a transit system.

Xiongan is being billed as a "special economic zone" and future tech hub by the Chinese government, which hopes that populations from nearby Beijing will move there (and thus reduce congestion in the city). Analysts expect it to take 15 years for the city to absorb 4.5 million people, many of whom are already trying to move there.

Prices of existing housing in the area have recently skyrocketed as a result, according to The Economist.

Yujiapu Financial District

Image: Imgur
The Chinese government has spent billions of dollars constructing Yujiapu Financial District, nicknamed "China's new Manhattan" (There are even skyscrapers inspired by Rockefeller Center and Lincoln Center). Construction on the 1.5-square-mile site started in 2008, and will total an estimated $30.4 billion.

Located outside Tianjin, it will feature 47 new residential and office towerswhen complete in 2019.

But so far, it may be shaping up to become a ghost city, full of half-built and rarely occupied skyscrapers, according to Bloomberg and CNN.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017...e-transforming-cities-and-the-way-people-live