A promotional video shows planned development of a state-level development zone by government of Lanzhou, a provincial capital in China's arid northwest...
The Lanzhou province is lightly populated mainly due to it's semi-arid climate and rugged topography. The goal is make a 500 square mile area (currently with 100,000 people) into a city with over 1 million people by 2030. To make this new metropolis, developers are planning to literally remove mountains to create a more 'ideal' urban environment. This makes some of the most ambitious environmental modification projects seem tame. For more read, the accompanying article from the Guardian.
Questions to Ponder: What potential environmental impacts come from this scale of modification? How will this massive influx of the population impact the region? Could this type of project happen in other part of the world?
Tags: environment, urban ecology, planning, environment modify, China.
Via Seth Dixon
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The developer is claiming this will be "protective development." I am not sure if I buy that. They are moving mountains- which means everything that comes with that, wildlife, trees, etc... And they are building an airport and an oil refinery (amongst other things).. Urbanizing can be great for the economy- but at what cost. Elizabeth Allen