China's New Boomtowns: Too Much Growth, Too Fast

Chinese towns are developing nearly overnight into megacities -- but at tremendous economic, social and environmental costs.

1 minute read

July 29, 2004, 11:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen

"Dongguan has exploded from a mere town to a city of seven million in a little over 20 years. But the city officials are not content with a 23 percent annual economic growth rate. They are putting the finishing touches on a vast, entirely new annex city that they hope will draw 300,000 engineers and researchers, the vanguard of a new China... 'Every city wants to develop into a world city, and every one wants to have an international airport, six-lane highways and export zones, rather than integrated growth,' Professor Tang said. 'This is what we are observing in China today. All of the cities have been turned into vast construction zones, and the government has not contemplated the consequences of this yet.' "

Thanks to Chris Steins

FULL STORY: New Boomtowns Change Path of China's Growth

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 in The New York Times

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