Chapter 5: Conclusion
5.2 Technology and Construction
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The location has already been analyzed in the previous chapters; still, it is important to once more emphasize that the Tianjin Eco-City has the best conditions to be constructed at the selected location due to the great preconditions of the area, the connection to the seaside and the close-by cities Tianjin and Beijing. To transfer the eco-city to other areas one-to-one might indeed be unlikely, because several of the preconditions of the TBNA can hardly be met at other regions of China. Also other regions may be considered similar to the TBNA as “lynchpin” for China’s economic growth and a possible
“hotspot” for ecological development, but it is necessary to reproduce the same idea directly to another region.
The idea of the SSTEC is not directly reproduce and rebuild the exact same city on another spot in China, but rather uses the experience, expertise, technology and possibility to provide a scalable eco-city model which can be transferred part by part. The success of the rehabilitation process of managing to turn alkaline and waste land into a green habitat is the key for understanding China’s ambitions of the project.
5.2 Technology and Construction
Other eco-city projects such as Caofeidian Eco-City have renewable targeting goals which are way beyond the 20 percentage aim of the SSTEC. Here is should be mentioned that even though the eco-cities target in Tianjin is below other eco-constructions in China (and abroad) it is still an improvement compared to other cities in China. By planning such environmental improvements and targeting goals the eco-city’s designers were probably considering the factor of scalability. Many other eco-city projects already shifted
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into an incomplete and non-ongoing project, the Tianjin Eco-City development is still ongoing even if it hasn’t attracted as much business and residents as expected.
It is clear that the development of the SSTEC and its indicator system has been adjusted towards appropriate Chinese and Singaporean standards and thereby mostly referring towards the highest possible qualifications and norms. As a result it is becoming a feasible project which has much more realistic changes to take root in China than in the Western hemisphere.
Although the indicator system is even not featuring the best possible standards which are planned by other eco-cities in China it therefore is one of the projects which is still in the process of development, in contrary to cities as Dongtan Eco-City or Caofeidian Eco-City.
Comparing the KPI framework with current other eco-city constructions and existing cities or standards in other countries it is clearly visible that China’s standards often are not comparable to Western standards, nonetheless it should be emphasized that the Tianjin Eco-City is not functioning as a worldwide eco-city model but rather an example for possible and successful implementation, design and transfer towards regions which are in need of similar constructions or concepts.
Additionally it may be mentioned that the KPI framework only consists of 26 indicators but thereby covered most of the important and necessary fields of possible (technical) greening of the city, whereas some other projects are making use of many more indicators which just complicate their successful fulfillment and control.
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The results of the inquiries show a clear picture of the recent development in the city and the need for adjustments. If those problems, especially those connected to the construction and development process (consumption, waste management, green space, public facilities) are not improved during the timeframe when the residences’ occupancy is still on a lower level it might be very difficult to solve them in the future.
The monitoring and controlling aspects in particular need to be established and strictly followed, and if required be enhanced. As mentioned before it is impractical to design indicators if they are not complying with the supposed standards. Eventually such unbalanced occurrences might harm the project inasmuch that calculations are not conform anymore, and moreover why should someone consider obtaining similar concepts, constructions and technology if they are not fulfilling the expectations?
I do not want to say that the starting point of the movement of the first residents into the eco-city in March 2012 was a mistake but I would rather say that at that point and still now the infrastructure and public facilities located in the city are just enough to provide basic requirements. But at the same time, it has been shown that these are not sufficient to satisfy the needs of the population. The fact that the situation in the commercial area which was mentioned before hasn’t been showing much improvement after a period of 8 months, even though the number of inhabitants has increased, further solidifies this statement
The main bright spot which might improve the number of residents and the construction of commercial areas, more possibilities for activities and other fundamental equipment and areas in the eco-city may be the completion of the
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Light Rail Train connection; at the same time this could also reduce the amount of cars in the city and noticeably improve the lifestyle of people in the city.