Sustaining efforts

The world’s first eco-city, Dongtan in China should have been completed by 2010 but as of today, nobody knows what happened to the city that was not to be!

However, the reasons for why it failed to take off are simple. Lack of understanding local needs, political overtones, miscommunication, inexperience, are some of these - in hindsight.

As detailed in the very interesting Yale blog, China has become a workshop for the world, a laboratory for new technology and global talent seeking to realize their futuristic visions. But sometimes grandiose plans remain grandiose on paper, but don’t see the light of the day.

The promised eco-cities of Dongtan and Huangbaiyu were touted as future models and drew upon expertise from some of the best international architectural and design firms. The Huangbaiyu project sought to transform a small village in northeast China’s Liaoning province into a more energy-efficient community.

Part of the vision was to use special hay and pressed-earth bricks for construction. Unfortunately, cost overruns due to the material used (not locally made) made the homes unaffordable to many villagers. Sometimes, although homes were available, the farmers refused to live in them as the yards weren’t large enough to raise animals and sustain a livelihood.

One of McDonough’s blueprints, for another planned eco-city in Liuzhou, called for farmers to use rooftop fields, connected by tiny bridges!

Zero energy buildings are another admirable concept that may just fall by the wayside unless deliberated more carefully. Ideas can be as out of the box as having storage space at each step or solar panels laid out on roads. But unless these are sustainable, they are best kept inside the box.