July 2009

One Planet Communities China Team

The One Planet Communities China team expects to be moving into its new Beijing offices in August 2009.

Country Manager Xiaohong Chen and One Planet Communities Manager Alastair McMahon have spent June meeting potential project partners, presenting to local government officials, universities, developers and participating in seminars conferences on sustainability across the country, visiting Beijing, Chongqing, Wuhan, Changsha, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

Establishing a One Planet Community project in China by 2011 remains a challenge, however support for sustainability projects from central government and major cities and towns has mushroomed over the last 18 months. China continues to experience growth on a dizzying scale and the expansion of its 'second tier' cities (cities other than the big four - Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen) is widely documented as the engine of this physical and economic growth. Whilst this provides China with opportunities it also brings with it major challenges, particulary in the peri-urban area where the city meets the countryside and where the majority of new real estate will be developed over the next 20 years. This urban-rural interface is subsequently of considerable interest to the One Planet Communities programme as it represents a chance for the first OPC project in China to be a replicable model for solving the many sustainability challenges faced in this zone.

Although government is pushing the sustainability agenda, generally developers continue to reap considerable benefits from building low quality, inefficient buildings as fast as possible. This is facilitated by poor masterplanning of vast american-style boulevards and out of town facilities. Fortunately there are some developers interested in more sustainable projects. China Merchant Property Development, who having just completed the renovation of four old factory buildings into their new low energy green HQ, is now moving onto the final phase of their Jinshan project which has just won the United Nations Habitat Business Award for best practice. We'll feature more information on the Jinshan project in the next newsletter.

The One Planet Communities China team are now working together with universities and developers to prepare a technical manual for One Planet Communities in China, the contents are still to be confirmed, but the purpose is to provide evidence to the government that the OPC concept can be localised and work effectively in China. The team hopes to complete an English and Chinese version of the guide by the end of August.