Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
natural landscape and the intensive real estate development are imagined as
a mini-Vancouver or Hong Kong, where the natural beauty of the waterscape
is an engine of improvement and betterment, with an associated and inexo-
rable real estate development, leading to rising land values and skyrocketing
housing prices.
dongtan disappoints
So why, given the tremendous amount of energy, resources, and excitement,
did Dongtan eco-city fail? Arup contends that the Dongtan project is “dead”
but that the fate of Dongtan is not in its hands.
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h e most frequently off ered
explanation is, unsurprisingly in the contemporary Chinese context, politi-
cal corruption. In 2006, when Dongtan's construction was set to begin,
Shanghai's then-Communist Party secretary (and its former mayor from
2001 to 2003) Chen Liangyu was arrested and ultimately sentenced to eight-
een years for bribery and abuse of real estate transactions. For accepting
bribes, the former director-general of SIIC Wang Guoxiong was sentenced to
life in prison, and SIIC's fi nance director Li Yizeng was sentenced to fi fteen
years in jail. Arup was not involved in those cases. After Chen's arrest in
September 2006, many large construction projects were immediately put on
hold pending further review. Since that time, however, many other projects'
permits have been renewed and completed while Dongtan and those most
identifi ed with Chen have languished indefi nitely.
h e other major reason given is that there was “confusion” about who
was to pay for the project, Arup or SIIC. h is explanation sounds ridiculous,
given that the two major players have a great deal of experience in both
fi nancing and building big projects. Dongtan's failure is tied to several fac-
tors specifi c to that project and the land in question. One of Dongtan's for-
mer designers, Shanfeng Dong, said, “China's current city statutes are suit-
able for the previous decades when China was still in its industrial
development period. h
ere is a lack of basis for constructing eco-cities.”
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