Need info on Dongtan, Korea? Learn more about the concept of a dynamic eco-city in Korea named Dongtan…
Dongtan was a highly regarded eco-city, which has been in the concept stage and is known as the world’s first eco-city. While four years have been spent on its design and establishing the concept among a universal audience base, it seems like the concept has been shelved owing to a variety of reasons.
Dongtan, Korea the new city was to be established on an area as large as three fourths of the Manhattan Island. The location that was proposed for the eco-city was Chongming Island located near Shanghai and lying in the Yangtze River Delta.
Phase 1 of the Dongtan, Korea was to house 25,000 people in its initial area while it was supposed to expand by 2032 take in more than 500,000 residents. While this project may have seemed ambitious to the world, China is well known for constructing rapidly developing cities at a startlingly fast pace.
Dongtan, Korea — Zero Carbon Footprints
Dongtan was planned as a zero carbon footprint location and encouraged biodiversity. The infrastructure focused on facilitating limited use of cars and promoted low consumption ideals. Considered a new paradigm in terms of economic development it aimed to completely offset the Shanghai ecological footprint, which is touted at 5.8 global hectares per person. Dongtan was established on the principles of creating only 2.6 global hectares of carbon footprints per person.
Eco – friendly Concept of the Urban Housing in Dongtan, Korea
Even though there was heavy PR and a lot of the concepts were advertised, there is no follow through on the rolling out of actual project components. The city is planned to incorporate easy access to transport links. By providing transport at 7 minutes distance from housing projects the use of the cars was to be restricted.
With a self sustained environment, the city would be able to generate sufficient electricity and heat derived from renewable energy sources. Food was to be produces locally on the island while the vehicles would not give off any emissions.
Dongtan, Korea – Retained As a Fantasy
Unfortunately in five years there have been no constructive steps to achieve the goals of the project. Only the land has been cleared and all the resident farmers have been relocated. Large areas have been demarcated but there is no construction and even the visitor center has been shut down.
It used to be heavily promoted on the website of the engineering firm that was commissioned as contractors for the project. Apart from that the Shanghai Expo annually unveiled different concepts and had updates for the project on their website. However, both no longer have references to the Dongtan, Korea project.
Roadblocks in the Dongtan, Korea Project
The construction of the link bridge from the island to Shanghai has been completed. However the main city project itself has collapsed due to various administrative and political road blocks. From the limited technology available to deliver the project to expired planning permissions and the excessive charges of the international consultancy firms on board for the project, there are a host of issues plaguing the project.
