Chapter 3
Actions and Achievements
in the Major Fields of Sustainable Development
Section 3 Human Environment and Settlement Construction
I. Background3.14 From 1990 to 1996, China accelerated its urbanisation process. In 1990, the size of the urban population was 301.91 million, and had increased to 359.50 million by 1996. The urbanisation ratio rose from 26.41% in 1990 to 29.4% in 1996. Compared with the rapid growth of the industrial production and the urban population, the development of infrastructure was slow and lagging. As a result, environmental pollution and insufficient housing are the two major obstacles to the sustainable urban development. In view of this, the Chinese Government has listed urban environment control and human settlement construction as major development fields.
Figure 3-2 The Urbanisation Process in China
II. Actions and Achievements
3.15 Enhancement of legislation for resettlement management
China has published and enforced the "Law of the People's Republic of China on Municipal Planning", the "Administrative Law of the People's Republic of China Concerning Urban Real Estate", the "Regulations Governing the Developmental Planning for Villages and Towns", the "Regulations on Water Supply in Cities", the "Regulations Governing the Appearance and General Sanitation of Cities", the "Regulations on Afforestation in Urban Areas", and the "Regulations Governing Roads in Urban Areas", so that urban and rural planning, construction, and management systems are regulated by legal mechanisms and the development of urban and rural settlements is ensured.
3.16 Overall urban planning and urban function re-definition
By the end of 1996, 666 cities and 17,770 towns had drawn up their overall municipal or township plans. These plans incorporated items such as protection and improvement of the urban ecological environment, use of land resources in an economical and rational way, and prevention and control of urban pollution. As stated in these plans, the reconstruction of the old quarters and the development of new districts in the cities must be done in line with the requirements that define the functions of certain city quarters. Also included are designs for adjusting the industrial layout, strengthening the prevention and control of industrial pollution, changing the mixed location of factories and residential buildings, and controlling the urban environment hazards in both industrial production and living consumption. The aim of these plans is the creation of residential districts with reasonable layouts and a complete range of social services.
Picture 3-5 Caihuying Overpass, Fengtai District, Beijing
Benxi City is located in the mountainous region of eastern Liaoning Province and is a base of industrial production (such as the production of coal, iron, steel, construction materials, chemical products, etc.). As a result, the city is nicknamed "the City of Coal and Iron". However, it was once called the "City Invisible from Satellites" because the city suffered serious industrial pollution and was covered in fog and smoke all year long. In order to resolve these problems, the municipal
government formulated the "Seven-Year Plan for the Urban Environmental
Control of Benxi", put more investment into environmental protection,
and strengthened law enforcement in this aspect. Meanwhile, the industry
accelerated its technical renovation and its structural adjustment. By
1995, the pollution of the city had been curbed and the environment began
to show signs of recuperating. Of the 33 major smoke emission sources which
seriously affected the atmospheric quality, 18 were put under control.
Among the 37 major sewage discharge sources which polluted the Taizi River
and Cao River, nine had been cleaned. Two slag hills were removed and recycled.
There is now a smoke-control zone covering 32.8 square kilometres where
the monthly atmospheric 10,000-metre visibility averages 85%. The water
sources for daily life come from surface water of the second category of
quality ranking. Thanks to the Seven-Year Control Plan, Benxi City now
has a better environment, and its people can enjoy a blue sky and clean
water once again. |
3.17 Improvement of urban infrastructure
- Building infrastructure for municipal public services and urban
environmental protection
In 1996, the national daily municipal water supply capacity expanded to 185.168 million cubic metres and the tap water supply rate reached 95% of the urban populace. In the same year, the centralised treatment rate of urban sewage was 23.62%, non-hazardous treatment rate of garbage and excrement was 49.06%, the municipal gas supply rose to 73.27% of urban households, a 123,000 km-long urban road network (with 7.58 square metres of road surface per urban inhabitant) was constructed, and forest cover of 24.4% (with 5.8 m2 of forest cover per person) was achieved in city districts. Some cities suffering from water shortages have built water diversion channels to ease the tension caused by this problem. The tap water supply has been extended to 32% of the towns and villages, benefiting 318 million people.
- Quantitative examination system for comprehensive urban environmental
control
Since 1989, the quantitative examination system for comprehensive urban environmental control has been advocated nation-wide by the Chinese Government. The central and provincial governments have performed quantitative checks in over 37 key cities and another 330 cities. By 1996, China had delineated an area of 14,085 square kilometres for smoke control and an area of 2,185 square kilometres for noise control. Several rivers that cut through cities have undergone large-scale overall re-embankment and dredging in order to improve the aquatic environment of the urban areas, e.g. Zhongdong River in Hangzhou, Funan River in Chengdu, Haihe River in Tianjin, Suzhou River in Shanghai, Qinhuai River in Nanjing, and Haohe River in Nantong. On the basis of this examination system, the Chinese Government established a number of model cities for environmental protection, such as Zhangjiagang in Jiangsu Province which became a model city in July of 1996.
3.18 Enhancement of housing construction and improvement in living conditions
- Promotion of the national housing project and acceleration of housing
construction progress
From 1991 to 1995, there was a total investment of RMB 841.67 billion yuan in the municipal and township housing construction of the whole country. New housing totalling 1.033 billion square metres of floor space was completed, thus resolving the housing shortage for 5 million households. In 1995, the average per capita dwelling area was 7.9 square metres in the urban areas and 16.9 square metres in the rural areas. The rural housing has increased by 3.07 billion square metres in the last five years. 1995 was also the first year of the new housing project envisaged by the Chinese Government: 165 pilot cities received a total of RMB 15 billion yuan in loans from the Chinese Government and RMB 22.5 billion yuan from the local authorities (23.771 million m2 have already been built). China has made gratifying achievements in human settlements development, a fact that has been proven by the granting of the UN "Human Settlements Award" to several Chinese projects: the reconstruction of Tangshan after the earthquake, the building of the new residential quarters in Shenzhen, the rebuilding of the outmoded residential areas at Ju'er (chrysanthemum) Alley in Beijing, and the "Combating Difficulty" Housing Project in Shanghai.
- Application of science and technology to housing construction and
promotion of the modernisation of the housing industry
Starting in 1994, the State Science and Technology Commission, the Ministry of Construction, and other state departments have jointly organised and implemented the "Industrial Project of Science and Technology for 'Well-Off' Urban Housing to the Year 2000". The project is designed to accelerate the modernisation of China's housing construction industry by way of advocating the transformation and application of achievements in housing technology research, improving the functions and quality of buildings, and bettering the housing environment. In parallel with the overall development of scientific and technological research, a set of comprehensive demonstration projects on "Well-Off" housing have also been set up for construction.
Picture 3-6 The Residential Area of Ju'er (chrysanthemum)
Alley, Beijing
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