It’s a funny old world. China, now officially the world’s biggest polluter, is well on the way to developing sustainable cities the likes of which we have never seen before. On a small island on the mouth of the Yangtze River Delta, Arup, the engineering firm responsible for the (just plain weird looking) Beijing National Stadium, are hard at work on Dongtan Eco-city, ‘which will be sustainable not just environmentally, but also socially, economically and culturally.’

Situated in a highly sensitive wetland of global importance, the city will produce its own energy, will have as close to a zero carbon footprint as is possible with the technology and skills available today, will grow all its own food using organic methods and will recycle its own waste.

“The development at Dongtan will represent the turning point in China’s frenetic urban growth, incorporating all of the economic, social and environmental principles that combine to reduce the impact on the natural environment and provide a model for future development across China and East Asia.”

What have we learned?

It is absolutely one hundred and 50 million percent possible to build large scale contemporary cities that work with and complement the natural world. All we need to do now is evolve along similar lines.

Get to work busy bee’s.

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