China Is Building A Brand New Green City From Scratch

Cookie cutter cities?! Hurray for creativity! But seriously, with over a billion people, this is a pretty good idea if it works as advertised.

Leaving the US in the dust. But hey, let's listen to the gop and dig for more oil!

Wonder if they got in touch with Paulo Soleri. He started work on this exact thing back in the 50's or 60's out in AZ. Has a proof of concept near Cordes Junction just off of I-17. It's not done yet but is already pretty impressive.

You'll never see this in America--too much over fed over wasteful over old fashioned Congressional boobs in power.

You idiots complain about things not happening in the US yet do nothing to help make them happen. Please go out and actually DO something. Also those Congressional BOOBS so you say. Guess who voted those people in AMERICANS. We have NO ONE to blame for the state of our country but our selves period.

Self-sustaining? LOL Maybe on electrical energy production only? There is absolutely nothing included that talks about how they're going to supply their most important form of energy... their food!

To provide food for city people takes at least half an acre of highly productive ground per person. A 80,000 person city would therefore take 40,000 acres of land to grow their food. Even if they cut that in half somehow (eat less, get as efficient as possible), that's still 20,000 acres of land for their food production. And yet, what they've actually done is take 800 acres of farm land and turn it into a city. They're not even using waste land, but farmland that has been developed for many years. They're just building on it. Sheesh!

Plus, it's not hard to design a new city from scratch that can be highly energy efficient. However, 3-4 billion people live in EXISTING cities. We're not exactly going to just make a bunch of cookie-cutter cities for them to all move into.

The real way to have a large population become more energy efficient is to stop subsidizing energy in any form, and to make sure that energy-related costs are up front and in our faces rather than hidden in general taxes. As soon as we all see our energy bills run up, we'll all figure out our own ways to save.

But let's not pretend that this Chinese place is somehow self-sustaining, since being self-sustaining in just one area is not even close to accuracy. A false sense of security is not helpful to anyone except the firms that stand to make money on building this place.

Eight years? Lol seriously? You would never see this anywhere else, but this is probably the most innovative thing anyone ever came up with since forever, but I'm assuming this is a giant Chinese propoganda full of shit, considering the amount of corruption and things like this in the past, the city will probably be poorly built, not planned out well, and will be over budget and over time, and will probably rot in less than 20 years. However, again, this is a great concept, *Le sigh* if only the American government had the same push and no shit...

Is anyone else getting an Access Denied error when trying to look at the gallery. I am still able to see other galleries on PopSci. I have checked that already.

Everything else made in China is junk made with suspected dangerous materials by prisoners working in the most polluted factories fueled by food grown in chemical laden soil.

Well.. the Chinese have a history of two things, delivering in a grand fashion.. or failing epicly.

There are COUNTLESS report of bridges being built in china where STYROFOAM was used in place of concrete and then covered with a layer of cement.. or garbarge, or some other filler that just doesn't hold up. Which is why there are lots of bridge collapses there. And this is just ONE example of corner cutting that is done..

However, it seems that when they make a "Grand Announcement" that they intend to do something like this, they tend to come through with quality.. go figure.

What will likely end up happening is they build it, and then it turns into a ghost town or slum because people cant afford to live there..so the homeless move in and live on the streets and eventually break into the buildings and occupy them illegally... please, remember my prediction in 12 years and look this up.. lol

That's great, except that China has tried building cities from scratch. Many of them are completely dead empty ghost towns. The idea of "build it and they will come" does not apply in China. Just because they build a city, doesn't mean anyone will actually live there. Will probably end up being another ghost town if it ever gets completed.

I love China and I think it is awesome that their people are trying to improve their country, but what I do not understand is this...they build these huge cities, like the one in the article and then nobody lives in them. Seriously. There are massive cities in China that hundreds of thousands of people can live in and there is only a couple of hundred people living there. Watch this show on China's Ghost Cities. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPILhiTJv7E

@ delkomaticreturns

First, the concept of „You voted them in“ to justify the leadership being in power needs to be modified a bit to reflect the truth. The American people were presented with a number of hand picked players of the game to choose from. However, democrat or republican, they are still players of the game. That is the illusion of democracy…the people feel they have control because the get to “vote” for their government. However, to get to the higher levels of government you have to be willing to go along with the status quo or you do not get the support of the party. That is the important point so I will repeat it… to get to the higher levels of government you have to be willing to go along with the status quo or you do not get the support of the party. Have you ever seen a president that was not a democrat or republican? The real power is in the hands of the people who finance the campaigns of the politicians…the media moguls, the banksters and big business. The public is allowed to choose from the people that they pick.

Second, as to your request to people of “please go out and actually DO something”, there are numerous people doing exactly that and they are being ignored. As an example I will cite the efforts of scientists and engineers to call attention to the use of thorium as an energy source.

www.thoriumenergyalliance.com/

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BjiqfMhRrk

These people are educated and organized. But do any of the policy makers listen to them? One reason is that if the country started using thorium as an energy source it would shift the money flow and disturb the current power hierarchy.

However, I do agree with you to an extent that the people themselves are to blame for the state of the country. But, the process of government and policy making is rigged. People like politicians study human nature and use it to their own benefit. That is part of their job and the job of their staff. That is not what the average working man does for 40 hours a week. So when it comes to challenging the powers that be it is Joe Common going up against a bunch of professional manipulators that are already in control of the political infrastructure.

I wonder who will be allowed to live in the magic palace and will there be a class of people still considered peasants and disposable, exploited to build this magic palace? China has a long history of treating their people as disposable. This is still often seen with female babies.

So one more city to add to the list of newly constructed ghost cities throughout China?

On a note of policy, one thing you have to admire the Chinese for is that they will push through their agendas at lightning speed compared to America. Here, such a project would be mired in decades of congressional horse trading, greedy developers and contractors cutting each other's throats for a piece of the action, and public outcry using such slogans as "dont tread on me" to some perceived threat of government hostility.

This is why America is in such desperate straits. We've lost our vision and collective good will. We've traded resolve for infighting. Our rail technology is a century old. Our telecommunications (internet, wireless access) are inefficient and slower than our competitors in Europe and Asia. Our infrastructure is failing. And there are dozens of new ideas and technologies being incorporated in old and new cities across the globe, that we simply ignore. At this rate, in the next 50 years, America will downgrade from being a 1st world to a 2nd world country.

lawsonrw,
"... We've lost our vision and collective good will..."

Actually, I think it was the extreme opposite. The USA government mortgage the USA taxpayers to the max via their dreams and good will to others, hence the 16 trillion debt.

Oh we, our USA government leaders are dreamers! Now reality is coming due and the common USA working tax payers have to pay for those dreams.

And yes the USA for today and the future will down grade in our achievement, while we are busy paying our debts.

Our leaders failed us for not maintaining a economic foundation for the future.

lawsonrw,
And in their political weakness and hope to save their own political careers are frozen in decision making, for fear of losing their own position. Hence the law made a year ago, if the government cannot make a budget via by to cooperate with each other, automatic spending cuts come due Jan 1st 2013, our fiscal cliff!

Our leaders by example are cowards from their own actions!

Though they do guarantee themselves a wonderful retirement and medical benefits, with automatic increases! I call this a mafia system and corrupt.

I am for our USA government as the laws are written down, but I like to boot the current leaders, and give them the identical social security retirement program we all get and the identical Medicare too!

You find high density living the world over, from slum like to luxurious conditions, I like to live in a detached house with a garden in a suburb. I prefer it to an apartment on the 20th floor, where the neighbours bang at the wall when you snore loudly. So they are speaking of a power station with heat co generation, that does not sound very self sustaining to me. I could be more self sustaining if I chose to plant my own veggies.

It's time for a group of Humans to leave Earth and colonize elsewhere. Maybe they can build a better world.

If this city is so much more efficient it should also be more affordable to live in right?
It seems to me that if the majority of the world's population cant afford all the green technology then we are just fooling ourselves.

I wonder if they are growing food in the city? If it's not permaculture then it's not self sufficient. Only when we give up our addiction to farming will we get back to a natural balance. Venus Project stylee! We can do it! One step at a time.

This isn't the first time this has been proposed. What ever happened to Dongtan?