Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
the eco-island and the eco-city assumes that ecological places are those in
which a particular conception of nature dominates, especially those places
that are devoid of large numbers of buildings and people. h is construction
of nature draws on particular notions of wilderness in which people are
largely absent.
1
Dongtan and these particular iterations of the eco-city do indeed refl ect
a “quest” (the term Arup uses in its press release) and dreams. But these
quests are for profi t and image-making, not for sustainability. In other
words, eco-desire in and for Dongtan is mobilized by planners, engineers,
real-estate developers, and politicians to fuse discourses and nature images
with economic development and profi t-making. h e dream is green—but of
cash, not ecology. Both ecology and money-making are inextricably linked:
eco-desire as investment strategy.
Arup contended that the project failed owing to local contingencies and
politics. But Dongtan was never just a local aff air and it was always more
than mere technical or engineering marvel. Rather, Dongtan was always a
fi ercely ideologically contested and constructed cultural project in which
the dreams and politics of eco-desire run deep. h is desire—that ecological
and economic good can be one and the same, rather than in confl ict—is
dominant. h at's why the story of Dongtan is worth recounting and analyz-
ing. It represents what some call green capitalism, with greenwashing
elements.
2
But neither
green capitalism
nor
greenwashing
do full justice to the central
role of stories and imagination that
dreams
and
desires
imply. Dongtan's lack
of uniqueness paradoxically signifi es its importance. Many (if not most) huge
and experimental architectural projects fail, in China and elsewhere.
3
h at's
the name of the game in high-stakes global architecture. But the claims that
were made for Dongtan were so grandiose and pathbreaking that it's impor-
tant to understand what was going on, even if it never came to be. A corollary
of this “green dream” is a worldview that posits the solutions to global
