Urban Development To Combat Climate Change: Dongtan Eco-city and

Risk Management Strategies

Peter R. Head, OBE, FREng, FRSA1 and J. Gary Lawrence2

1
Arup, 13 Fitzroy Street, London, W1T 4BQ, UK
2
Arup, 403 Columbia Street, Suite 220, Seattle, WA 98104,
Tel: +1 206 749 9674-228, Fax: +1 206 749 0665, Email: gary.lawrence@arup.com

Abstract
The activities of urban settlements are key contributors to climate change factors. In parallel, global climate change and
its current and potential consequences for life property and prosperity is now accepted as the major challenge for human
society in the next 100 years. The translation of science into policy and practice that stems the acceleration of green-
house gas production, particularly carbon, while also ensuring social and economic development is still in its infancy.

Drawing on lessons learned from the planning and development of a new, low-carbon eco-city on an island opposite
Shanghai in China, this paper explores the potential of an integrated urbanism approach. The objective being not only to
mitigate factors contributing to climate change, but to manage risk, maximize resilience, and promote the successful
economic and social growth of the urban community. We posit that no matter what the scale, integrated approaches –
peter.head@arup.com gary.lawrence@arup.com
both in
Peter understanding the true nature of the issues and designing solutions – are predictive or more successful outcomes.
Head
Peter Head is a champion for developing global practice that demonstrates that the way we invest public and private money
in the built
Global environment
populations could be creating
are growing made very much
stress onmore effective
existing if the public
resources; sprawl and private natural
consumes sector adopted
buffers sustainable
making metrode-
velopment principles.
areas more vulnerable; distributed governance responsibility confounds coordinated planning; a successful global
economy is dependent on the resilience of public infrastructure and the metropolitan labor market. An integrated
He is a civil and structural engineer who has become a recognised world leader in major bridges, advanced composite tech-
urbanism
nology andapproach to planning
now in sustainable may give usinthe
development toolsHe
cities. to has
leapfrog the environmental
won many awards for hisand public
work, healththe
including costs of economic
Royal Academy
progress
Silver and create
Medal, Awardaofnew model
Merit for cities
of IABSE andacross the developing
the Prince Philip Awardworld.
for Polymers in the Service of Mankind.

He joined Arup
Keywords: in reduction,
carbon 2004 to create and lead their
risk management, planning
integrated and integrated urbanism team globally. He was appointed in 2002
urbanism
by the Mayor of London as an independent Commissioner on the London Sustainable Development Commission and leads
the planning and development sub-group of the Commission.
Introduction Government, business and society are engaged in
Global climate change and its current and a complicated debate about how, in policy and practice,
Peter is project director for the planning and development of the Dongtan Eco-city on Chongming Island in Shanghai and
potential consequence for life, property and prosperity the consequences of urbanization for climate can be
other city developments in China for the client Shanghai Industrial Investment Co and is a sustainability advisor for the
is now accepted as the major challenge for human reduced.
London Olympics development project. He has recently been asked by Ken Livingstone to support the development of
society in the next 100 years. Scientific findings and
a Zero Carbon housing project in Thames Gateway. Peter has also advised the Cathedral Group’s successful bid for the
debate are now considered “settled” though refinement The Global Response to Climate Change
Circus St development in Brighton which is another zero carbon urban regeneration project.
is required and predictive modeling tools that allow for In most of the developed nations, CO2 emissions
better understanding of local consequences are have been relatively constant over the last 25 years.(see
Gary Lawrence
currently crude. The political translation of settled Figure 1).
Gary Lawrence is Arup’s Urban Strategy Leader providing thought leadership for strategic urban development throughout
science into policy and practice that stems the
the firm’s 86 global offices. He is the driving force behind Arup’s vision to create communities of the present and future that
acceleration of green-house gas production,
address human need and environmental limitations. Gary’s roots are planted in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
particularly carbon, while also ensuring social and
As Redmond City Manger Gary turned the first shovel of dirt on the development of Microsoft’s campus then, as Planning
economic development is less settled.
Director for the City of Seattle, went on to lead development of the first municipal sustainability-focused comprehensive
Most metropolitan design, investment and
plan in the world: Toward a Sustainable Seattle. National and international recognition of his work soon followed and Gary
regulatory strategies are designed to manage life-safety
has subsequently served as advisor to the Clinton Administration’s Council on Sustainable Development, the UN’s Habitat
and property risks through resistance to natural or
II, the US Agency for International Development, the Brazilian President’s Office, the British Prime Minister’s Office,
human caused disasters. These strategies are intended
the European Academy for the Urban Environment in Berlin, and the Office of Economic and Community Development
to withstand events up to predetermined breaking
(OECD) on matters of sustainable development and environmental policy.
points. The designed breaking points are determined by
probability analysis, risk assessment and cost-benefit
Arup is a firm of 9000 engineers, designers, planners, and scientists who have come together to realize their founder’s vi-
analysis. They are for the most part focused upon
sion of shaping a better world for the citizens of today and tomorrow. Arup’s influence extends throughout the world with
abrupt events rather than the long-wave events such as
86 offices in 37 countries on five continents.
climate change that can lead to abrupt activities. Figure 1. CO2 levels in atmosphere and global temperatures

CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008 

 Urban Development To Combat Climate Change: Dongtan Eco-city and
Risk Management Strategies

Peter R. Head, OBE, FREng, FRSA1 and J. Gary Lawrence2

1
Arup, 13 Fitzroy Street, London, W1T 4BQ, UK
2
Arup, 403 Columbia Street, Suite 220, Seattle, WA 98104,
Tel: +1 206 749 9674-228, Fax: +1 206 749 0665, Email: gary.lawrence@arup.com

Abstract
The activities of urban settlements are key contributors to climate change factors. In parallel, global climate change and
its current and potential consequences for life property and prosperity is now accepted as the major challenge for human
society in the next 100 years. The translation of science into policy and practice that stems the acceleration of green-
house gas production, particularly carbon, while also ensuring social and economic development is still in its infancy.

Drawing on lessons learned from the planning and development of a new, low-carbon eco-city on an island opposite
Shanghai in China, this paper explores the potential of an integrated urbanism approach. The objective being not only to
mitigate factors contributing to climate change, but to manage risk, maximize resilience, and promote the successful
economic and social growth of the urban community. We posit that no matter what the scale, integrated approaches –
both in understanding the true nature of the issues and designing solutions – are predictive or more successful outcomes.

Global populations are growing creating stress on existing resources; sprawl consumes natural buffers making metro
areas more vulnerable; distributed governance responsibility confounds coordinated planning; a successful global
economy is dependent on the resilience of public infrastructure and the metropolitan labor market. An integrated
urbanism approach to planning may give us the tools to leapfrog the environmental and public health costs of economic
progress and create a new model for cities across the developing world.

Keywords: carbon reduction, risk management, integrated urbanism

Introduction Government, business and society are engaged in

Global climate change and its current and a complicated debate about how, in policy and practice,
potential consequence for life, property and prosperity the consequences of urbanization for climate can be
is now accepted as the major challenge for human reduced.
society in the next 100 years. Scientific findings and
debate are now considered “settled” though refinement The Global Response to Climate Change
is required and predictive modeling tools that allow for In most of the developed nations, CO2 emissions
better understanding of local consequences are have been relatively constant over the last 25 years.(see
currently crude. The political translation of settled Figure 1).
science into policy and practice that stems the
acceleration of green-house gas production,
particularly carbon, while also ensuring social and
economic development is less settled.
Most metropolitan design, investment and
regulatory strategies are designed to manage life-safety
and property risks through resistance to natural or
human caused disasters. These strategies are intended
to withstand events up to predetermined breaking
points. The designed breaking points are determined by
probability analysis, risk assessment and cost-benefit
analysis. They are for the most part focused upon
abrupt events rather than the long-wave events such as
climate change that can lead to abrupt activities. Figure 1. CO2 levels in atmosphere and global temperatures

 CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008

 The increase in global emissions has been
largely driven by increased emission from India, China
and the other growing economies of the Asia-Pacific
region (see Figure 2). Energy is an essential ingredient
for economic growth and access to reliable, affordable
and clean energy, particularly electricity, is a key factor
in alleviating poverty and enhancing the development
paths of developing countries. It is estimated that the
energy needs of developing countries will increase by
over 230% by 2050.
Figure 2. Global Energy Hunger
In 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
change concluded that global temperatures will
increase between 1.1 and 6.4°C. Projections for global
temperature vary across the globe, with projected
changes at the poles being much larger than at the
tropics. Climate models also predict changes in other
climate variables such as rainfall, snow and frost, wind
speeds and sea-level rise.
The Mitigation Challenge
Climate change policy has developed around two
themes: mitigation and adaptation. Mitigation is
tackling the causes of climate change through
reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Adaptation is
adjusting to the physical impacts of climate change by
reducing vulnerability and finding opportunity. The
Stern Review (the most comprehensive analysis of the
economics of climate change carried out to date),
commissioned by the UK government in 2005 found
that the costs of mitigation to avoid dangerous climate
change could be limited to around 1% of global GDP
each year, whereas the costs of inaction might be
equivalent to losing 5-20% of global GDP per year and
possibly more.
The Kyoto Protocol came into force in 2005 and
set out a program to reduce global greenhouse gas
emissions has only been partially ratified by the
“Annex 1” countries (developed nations and
transitional economies) with the main exceptions being
the US and Australia who claimed the required
reductions would be detrimental to their economies. To
date the Kyoto Protocol has failed to slow the
accelerating rate of global CO2 emissions. Other
measures are needed:
ª Large Cities Climate Leadership Group
(Clinton Climate Initiative). This group has undertaken
to accelerate carbon emissions reductions and provide
direct assistance through buying clubs.
ª Climate Change Action Plan – delivering CO2
reduction targets focusing on initiatives with the
highest CO2 impact.
ª Create a shared Climate Change agenda –
identify actions by individuals, government, and
business that enable a city to meet its targets.
Disaster Resilience and Climate Change
There is a vigorous parallel debate about how the
consequences of climate for existing and new urban
settlements can be reduced. For the purposes of this
paper these consequences are defined generically as
“disasters” recognizing that the severity and
distribution of disasters varies widely even within the
same community. The consequences will almost
always be more severe for the poor and infirm.
There are three interrelated threads that are part
of the discussion. They are:
ª Disaster Aversion: mitigating disasters we are
causing or causing to accelerate by modifying human
behaviors that increase risk.
ª Disaster-Resistance: designing systems to
withstand events, typically through single system
approaches
ª Disaster-Resilience: designing flexible,
adaptive and redundant systems, typically through an
integrated approach
Disaster aversion is most commonly the
province of discussions about how to reduce the
consequences of human development on climate. It can
not be separated from considerations of resistance and
resilience in practice in that it defines the parameters in
which both must be considered.
What is a disaster resilient community?
A disaster resilient community is in the truest
sense a sustainable community. It seeks to optimize
conditions for human development over an extended
period of time. It uses the ideas embedded in
sustainability theory as the most robust of all available
risk management tools. In so doing it creates an
analytical and decision-making matrix that addresses
issues in depth, in breadth, at their intersections and
through time. It is a place that finds permanence
through inherent capacity for adaptation. A sustainable
community, and therefore a disaster resilient
community, is a precondition to effectively addressing
the likely consequences of climate change on urban
environments.
Design and implementation of disaster-resilient
approaches to community development and
CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008 
redevelopment allow for:
ª Creation of understanding and definition of
sustainability as a socio-political problem with
technical attributes; not a technical solution with socio-
political implications.
ª Articulation of integrated design as a risk
management strategy for disaster-resilience.
ª Challenging and leading a fundamental
change in the way design professionals define
problems and introduce the necessary skills to address
them.
These designs and strategies inherently
recognize that there are circumstances in which
nature’s power will overcome man’s ingenuity and the
infrastructure we know how to build or can reasonably
afford. They are based upon extrapolations from
historical records that fail to take into account how
human behavioral contributions can amplify nature’s
processes. Current and predicted consequences of
global temperature rise coupled with choices regarding
location is one example of a long-wave disaster’s
ability to exacerbate abrupt disasters. Associated water
shortages that lead to evermore desperate and
potentially violent competition may be another.
Disasters – caused by natural or human events –
that exceed design standards produce cataclysmic
failure with significant harm, expensive fixes and slow
recovery times. In order to reduce cataclysmic failure,
harm, and expense and to improve recovery times one
might instead take an integrated design approach to
create buildings and communities that are disaster
resilient rather than resistant. Such communities
would:
ª Link prevention strategies with buildings and
infrastructure, particularly for essential public utilities,
designed to fail “gently” rather than cataclysmically
and at specific points so that repairs can be made
quickly and easily.
ª Have energy, water and communications
strategies designed to function detached from city-
wide, regional or national grids so they can still serve
community needs when large systems fail.
ª Have industrial and food strategies with the
warehousing capability necessary to reduce
vulnerability to just-in-time delivery schemes.
ª Have performance-based rather than
prescriptive regulatory schemes to encourage
innovation.
The Chinese Response
“China’s current development is ecologically
unsustainable, and the damage will not be reversible
once higher GDP has been achieved.” Zhenhua Xie,
Minister of State Environmental Protection Agency
Environmental damage costs the Chinese
economy $200 billion a year, a full 10% of China’s
GDP. The cost to public health and quality of life may
be even greater. Over-cultivation, overgrazing and
massive timber consumption have turned one quarter
 CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008
of China’s land into desert. Over 400 million Chinese
drink contaminated water. The government reckons
that 300,000 people die prematurely each year from
polluted air.
Low Carbon Eco-City Planning and Development
In August 2005, Arup was contracted by
Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation (SIIC) to
design and masterplan the world’s first eco-city,
Dongtan, in Shanghai, China (see Figure 3). In
November 2005, we signed an additional contract with
SIIC to work on three further eco-cities in China. The
Dongtan site is 86 square kilometres (8,600 hectares).
By 2010, one square kilometre (100 hectares) first
phase will be developed, to accommodate up to 10 000
people and by 2020, the 6.5 square kilometre (650
hectares) start-up area will be developed, to
accommodate up to 80,000 people. In future
development up to 2050, SIIC hope to accommodate
up to 500,000 people on around 30 square kilometres
(3,000 hectares).
SIIC’s vision is to create a development with
low energy consumption that is as close to being
carbon neutral as possible. To be truly sustainable, the
city must not only be environmentally sustainable, but
socially, economically and culturally sustainable, too.
Figure 3. Location of Chongming Island
Chongming Island is flat and barely higher than
sea level. The first challenge was to decide how to site
the city without putting it at serious risk from rising
floodwaters. Inspired by the ancient Chinese water
towns of the Yangtze River Delta, the site design
features canals in one zone, ponds in another, and a big
lake in a third. Courtyards and lawns drain water away
from buildings and flood cells within the city, similar
to the concept of the chambers in a submarine, are
designed to contain an inundation of seawater in the
case of the city being hit by a violent storm. Instead of
an engineered levy designed to resist stormwater, the
city lies at the top of a gentle hill that recedes into a
wide wetland basin, providing parkland, a bird
sanctuary, and a natural storm barrier.
Reduced Ecological Footprint
Shanghai has a typical ecological footprint of 5.8
global hectares per person and Dongtan Eco-City will
be 2.6 (see Figure 4). The Dongtan site is 86 square
kilometres (8,600 hectares). By 2010, one square
kilometre (100 hectares) first phase will be developed,
to accommodate up to 10 000 people and by 2020, the
6.5 square kilometer (650 hectares) start-up area will
be developed, to accommodate up to 80,000 people. In
future development up to 2050, SIIC hope to
accommodate up to 500,000 people on around 30
square kilometers (3,000 hectares).
Figure 4. Conventional Planning Approach City Footprint
The delicate nature of the Dongtan wetlands and
the adjacent Ramsar site for migrating birds and
wildlife, has been one of the driving factors of the
city's design. Arup plan to enhance the existing
wetlands by returning agricultural land to a wetland
state to creating a 'bufferzone' between the city and the
mudflats - at its narrowest point, this 'buffer-zone' will
be 3.5 kilometres wide. Only around 40% of the land
area of the Dongtan site will be dedicated to urban
areas and the city's design aims to prevent pollutants
(light, sound, emissions and water discharges) reaching
the adjacent wetland areas.
Although some may initially commute to
Shanghai for work, there will be employment for the
majority of people who live in Dongtan across all
social and economic demographics – over time with
effective policy incentives, companies will be attracted
to Dongtan and people will choose to live and work in
the city. All housing is designed to be within 7 minutes
walk of public transport and easy access to social
infrastructure such as hospitals, schools and work.
Integrated Urbanism and Virtuous Cycles
Conventional planning processes tend to focus
on one issue at a time and too often the impact of one
system on another is ignored until the consequence
becomes a reality. Arup took a new approach to
planning with the goal of delivering better performance
outcomes in cities. We developed a tool we’ve dubbed
an “integrated resource model” that allows us to see
how each change made in one system would ripple
across the city plan and affect those systems that
integrate with it (see Figure 5). Using this model we
can compare the inputs and outputs of any facility,
process, product, or human activity on the island. For
example, if we move an office park a mile in a given
direction, the tool can recalculate average walking
distances for commuters, estimate how many people
will drive or take public transit instead of walk, and
then add up the ultimate change in energy demand.
More importantly, this tool allows us to identify places
where one process creates waste that another process
could recycle.
Figure 5. Virtuous Cycles of Value in Masterplanning
Energy Strategy
Dongtan’s energy goals is to reduce energy
demand by 64% and have zero emissions for energy
production, which will save 350,000 tonnes of carbon
dioxide emissions per year.
Dongtan's combined heat and power (CHP) plant
will burn plant matter to drive a steam turbine and
generate electricity. Original thinking suggested the use
of miscanthus, a fast-growing grass that burns clean.
However, planting miscanthus fields would sacrifice
considerable land to a single purpose. After review of
readily available sources of biomass we soon realized
that China’s most readily available source is rice husks.
The by-product from one of China’s mainstay products
is typically just discarded by farmers. Dongtan’s plant
will take a useless byproduct and convert it into clean
energy to power the city.
Contrary to conventional city planning practices
the plant will be placed near the city center allowing us
to capture waste heat and pipe it throughout the town.
With good insulation and smart design, the plant could
heat and cool every building in Dongtan. The goal for
the fuel conversion is 80% efficiency.
Energy demand in Dongtan will be substantially
lower than comparable conventional new cities.
Buildings will have high thermal performance that will
have energy efficient equipment and mechanisms to
encourage residents to save energy. Transport energy
demand will be reduced by eliminating the need for a
high proportion of motorized journeys, and judicious
choice of energy efficient vehicles. When it is
completed, the energy used within the city will not add
to the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In
addition to the CHP plan, energy in the form of
electricity, heat and fuel will be provided entirely by
CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008 
renewable means. Electricity and heat will be supplied the city.
from:
ª wind farms; Underground "plant factories" installed in
ª biogas extracted from municipal solid waste hollowed out hills at the edge of the city will provide
and sewage; stacked trays of organic crops, growing under solar-
ª photovoltaic cells and micro wind turbines on powered LEDs, projected to yield as much as six times
individual buildings. more produce per acre than conventional farming (see
A key feature of energy management in Dongtan Figure 7). The plant factories provide 9 hectares for
will be the level of information provided to consumers agriculture with no loss of productive land. A
to encourage them to conserve energy by means such conventional city of this size would require 1000
as smart metering and financial incentives. Energy hectares dedicated to agricultural production.
meters will be placed in clearly visible locations such
as kitchens or offices so that residents can track their
own energy use and get regular reminders over SMS
and email. Up to a reasonable limit energy is
reasonably priced, beyond that threshold the price
spikes.
A recent change in China's energy law allows
Dongtan's power company to sell surplus green energy
to Shanghai's grid, offsetting the cost of expnesive new
hardware until the city grows into its supply.
All waste in the City will be collected and
segregated at source into at least three material
streams. Waste is considered to be a resource and most
of the city's waste will be recycled and organic waste
will be used as biomass for energy production. There
will be no landfill in the city and human sewage will be
processed for energy recovery, irrigation and
composting.
Dongtan will be a city linked by a combination Figure 7. Underground Plant Factory
of cycle-paths, pedestrian routes and varied modes of
public transport; including buses and water taxis. Transportation Strategy
Public transport will use innovative technologies, The city has a goal of zero carbon emissions
which may include solar powered water taxis or from energy for vehicles (see Figure 8). Improved
hydrogen fuel-cell buses. Visitors will park their cars accessibility reduces daily travel to 4.2 million
outside the city and use public transport within the city. kilometers with an average trip length of 24 kilometers
versus the 6 million kilometers traveled daily in a
Water Strategy conventional city with average trip lengths of 56
Water consumption will be reduced by 43% and kilometers and carbon emissions of 400,000 tonnes a
water discharge will be reduced by 88%. year.
Twin water networks run throughout the city.
One supplies drinking water to kitchens, the second
supplies treated waste water for toilet flushing and
farm irrigation (see Figure 6).

Figure 8. Dongtan City Car Demonstrator for 2010

Figure 6. Dongtan City Water Networks
Agricultural Strategy
Plant factories will have a production output
equal to the loss of productive land required to build
Freight Strategy
Trucks delivering goods from across China park
at consolidation warehouses on the edge of the city,
then load up shared, zero- emission delivery trucks to
reduce traffic and save gas (see Figure 9).

 CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008

Conclusion
As we have maximized the ability of urban
development to mitigate its consequences for climate,
we cannot be satisfied that we are done. Existing
climate changes are increasing risks for coastal
Figure 9. Dongtan City Freight Strategy
communities around the world and will continue to do
so. There is a bow wave effect set in motion by the
things that we have already done and climate change
will continue to impact us no matter what we do today.
There is one school of thought that “natural
disasters” as such do not exist. What do exist are
natural phenomena such as wind, flooding, fire,
drought and infectious disease. The disastrous element
is added when human society puts itself in the way of
likely natural phenomena or changes the ecosystems
that have evolved in relationship thereto.
Many communities and metropolitan areas have
put themselves in harm’s way or grown in ways that
have eliminated the buffers that once provided some
protection to smaller populations. We’ve often
exacerbated the inherent difficulties through the
designed fragile resource delivery systems that are
easily disrupted.
Natural systems are area appropriate and have
evolved over millennia to absorb the forces at work
and recover quickly. Much human development
destroys the natural systems that have evolved and
substitutes inadequate alternatives. The consequences
for New Orleans of Hurricane Katrina were made
much worse as a result of filling of surrounding
marshlands for housing development and substitution
of dikes as the protective mechanism for the City. New
Orleans may be the best current example of ill-advised
efforts to construct facilities to withstand natural forces
at work. The consequences for the City demonstrate
clearly that when human systems fail they do so with
great consequence for life and property. They also
demonstrate that the financial, cultural and social costs
of recovery can be extraordinary. Human development
in many ways has become the opposite of bio-mimicry
– most human development exhibits bio-ignorance or
even bio-arrogance. As climate change and its myriad
consequences unfold the world will not be able to
afford development or redevelopment of urban
settlements that are not resilient and adaptive.
Public and private investment and regulatory
environments focused on risk reduction help build
confidence within the public that hazards have been
“managed.” In many instances the length of time
between events makes location and functional risk less
intuitive and management of known risks less
politically viable. Often government subsidy or private
indemnification reduces the financial risks associated
with hazards.
From an ecological, economic and life-safety
perspective there is certainly land that should not have
been or should not be developed. For development that
already exists it is highly improbable that individuals
or communities will move to safer locations, though it
has happened with some smaller communities along
the Mississippi River in the US and in some coastal
communities in response to erosion.
It may be possible to discourage future
development but the immediate past does not give one
confidence that the public’s interest in avoiding
subsidization of poor location decisions will prevail
over individual property interests and/or government
development strategies. Government is not likely to
buy back coastal properties even though in many
instances it would be much cheaper to move
communities than provide insurance subsidies and pay
for cycles of remediation and recovery.
As unwise or economically unsound as some
development decisions might have been or might be in
the future it is likely that development will continue in
areas faced with highly probable hazards. The
challenge in these instances will be design of
infrastructure and buildings that recognize the
inevitability of system failures and that, therefore, are
based upon the need for reductions of harm and more
rapid recovery. For metropolitan areas as well as
smaller communities, the capacity to be resilient in
response to nature’s phenomena is a key to
competitiveness and livability.
There are a number of reasons why metropolitan
areas should be particularly sensitive to the need for
disaster resilience strategies in the face of known and
unknown consequences of climate change:
ª In most instances populations are growing and
therefore creating stress on existing resources and
systems.
ª Poorly designed articulated growth strategies
promote consumption of natural buffers, steep slopes
and other critical areas, thus making the metro areas
more vulnerable.
ª Distributed governance responsibility makes
coordinated planning, investment and reaction difficult.
ª Corporate resilience necessary for maintaining
competitiveness in the global economy is dependent on
ª
CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008 
Figure 10. Dongtan Eco-City

the resilience of public infrastructure and the

metropolitan labor market.
ª A lack of resilience reduces return on
investment from both public and private sectors.
ª
Dongtan strives to serve as a model for cities
across China and the rest of the developing world —
cities that, given new tools, might leapfrog the
environmental and public health costs that have always
come with economic progress. It is to be hoped that
existing American and European cities may learn from
the tools and strategies being employed in the creation
of Dongtan, especially when they redevelop industrial
plots or build out at the edges.

 CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008