Thursday, November 21, 2019

China Builds Vast New Metropolises From the Ground Up.

On some estimates, China has built more than 600 new cities since the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949.

Even Shenzhen pales, compared with the plans for Xiongan in Hebei province, a new city that covers over 770 square miles, more than twice the size of New York City.

The dream of a new country, reconciled with modernity and technology, morphs into a dream landscape of shining new cities.

Will China slow down when it feels that it has caught up with Europe and the U.S., or will it keep pushing, developing new technologies with powerful social, political, and human consequences? The next technological revolution will likely be the first led by China, and manufactured cities will be part of that revolution.

New cities, it's important to remember, are not a completely new phenomenon.

To borrow a term from Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, the new cities in China are products of hyper-building.

China's national competition to produce "Civilized cities" creates new guidelines by which cities should be measured.


https://www.city-journal.org/china-cities-built-from-scratch

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