Dongtan Eco-City: A Model of Sustainability?

Dongtan Eco City was planned for completion for the Shanghai World Expo in 2010. By that time, 5,000 people should be living there. However, the planned housing, water taxis, sewage‐recycling plant and energy park all failed to materialize.

1 minute read

January 12, 2010, 12:00 PM PST

By Alessandro Busà


Ph.D. Student in City and Regional Planning at Cornell University Peter Sigrist investigates models of "sustainable" development in China: "Though not yet realized, Dongtan Eco-City has been lauded as a progressive model of urban sustainability with the potential for successful replication throughout the world. It has also been criticized as an expensive form of public relations, gentrification, and even totalitarianism. These competing perspectives raise questions about the meaning of urban sustainability and the degree to which Dongtan represents a viable model [...]"

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