Table Of ContentUrban Sustainability
Ali Cheshmehzangi
Tian Tang
China’s City Cluster
Development in
the Race to Carbon
Neutrality
Urban Sustainability
Editor-in-Chief
Ali Cheshmehzangi , Architecture & Built Environment, University of
Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China
The Urban Sustainability Book Series is a valuable resource for sustainability and
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·
Ali Cheshmehzangi Tian Tang
China’s City Cluster
Development in the Race
to Carbon Neutrality
Ali Cheshmehzangi Tian Tang
University of Nottingham Ningbo China Independent Researcher
Ningbo, Zhejiang, China Chongqing and Sichuan, China
ISSN 2731-6483 ISSN 2731-6491 (electronic)
Urban Sustainability
ISBN 978-981-19-7672-8 ISBN 978-981-19-7673-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7673-5
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Photo taken by Ali Cheshmehzangi in Yunnan, summer 2022
We collectively dedicate this book to our
peaceful nature before it is all forgotten.
Preface
Despite the growing calamities, much more severe climate change impacts are yet to
bewitnessedandexperienced.Thisisnotawarningtoscareus.Thereisnodelusional
perception. This disquieting tone is no longer meant to raise our awareness. It is
just intended to push for genuine actions, and not by words, not by agendas, and
not by having other rounds of exclusive, inane, and futile events. Our actions have
been little as our willingness remains weak. Our educational transformations are
shallow and slow, yet we have daily experiences of global warming effects, drought,
flooding,forestfire,desertification,deforestation,cyclones,tsunami,heatwaves,dust
storms, and many more natural—and some unnatural—cataclysms. Our systems are
tarnished and corrupted, and the obnoxious minds increase disparities, insecurities,
and inequalities around the globe. The continuous disappearance and displacement
of our living habitats, natural environments, and societies seem not to bother us as
much as they should. We are assured the progress is healthy, yet we take little action
in questioning what occurred and will occur. There are many doubts about what
could be a simple task. Since the 1970s, if not later, many pledges have been put
in place to give us some light of hope in our dark paths and history, helping us to
respond to our insecurities, and direct us out of the melancholy we have instigated on
the planet. Our never-ending cycles of destruction coupled with everlasting growth
epitomes push us further away from veracities, and we are pulled more and more
towards development, development, and development. The word ‘development’ has
to be swotted more prudently, as it no longer resembles the ‘process of developing
or being developed’.
Carbon neutrality is a relatively new path to reaching sustainable development
targets.Inaway,itepitomisesaholisticapproachtocombatissuesofclimatechange,
global warming, greenhouse emissions increase, carbon emissions levels, etc. Thus,
wehave recuperated some hope, or perhaps a feeble optimism, albeit wethink carbon
neutralitymaynotbereachedinourlifetime.Todate,manycountrieshaveannounced
their plans for carbon neutrality, and one (i.e., Bhutan) claims they have reached it
already.China’srecentpledgetothisoverarchingplanisalong-term,large-scale,and
energy-consuming effort that requires investment, knowledge, and audacious moves
against the existing flows. To change the current paradigms, efforts need to be made.
ix
x Preface
To transform the existing ideas, sacrifices have to be made. And to achieve carbon
neutrality, the next steps have to be firm. Unlike the previous endeavours, this four-
decade plan is considered challenging and demanding. It is a manifestation of the
recent errors and fallacies and a chance to make a difference. The need for bottom-up
interventions, socio-economic development, and regional plans has pushed multiple
actors and stakeholders to shake up the current trends of development and confront
their current challenges. To widen the horizon, regions have to be restructured, cities
have to be renewed, towns and villages have to be modernised, neighbourhoods and
communities have to be renovated, buildings have to be reinvented, technologies
have to be integrated, and people have to be educated. If so, the pledge will become
a reality.
We note that regions play a significant part in China’s sustainable development
plan. The country’s primary approach to regional development is based on its rela-
tively new ‘city cluster development’ plan. By strengthening the nexus between
sustainable development and carbon neutrality, this book maps some of the primary
city clusters in China. We explore their differences, commonalities, current status,
future plans, and what is meant by the race to reach carbon neutrality. Thus, the
book covers this prodigious race in the context of city clusters. In the current phase
of high-quality urbanisation, we explore the challenges and opportunities of each
region. We delve into each case study beyond just their developmental projects or
programmes, economic growth plans, and transportation and communication links.
We consider values more than just the physical infrastructural development and
institutional capacities. Thus, we hope to highlight a more prominent set of values
related to social infrastructure development, capacity building, knowledge sharing
and transfer, and education.
Lastly, we hope that the carbon neutrality plan could create genuine, impactful,
and inclusive paths for research, practice, and policy to flourish and for people,
prosperity, and nature to thrive. Following the earlier attempt with our published
bookon‘China’sSustainabilityTransitions’,wehopetobemoreexplicitinexploring
China’s carbon neutrality plan in the context of city clusters. This 2020 pledge of
2030 targets and 2060 plan should not just be shaped and recrafted with numbers
and statistics. It should rather become a role model for us to see success based on
enthusiasm, reflection, order, and progress. In this book, we join hands to create a
memory in time, a moment that resembles our mind, and a chance to return to our
united source.
Ningbo, China Ali Cheshmehzangi
Chongqing, China Tian Tang
Acknowledgements
This book is the signature output of the NSFC-funded project, titled “Integrated City
Information Modelling (iCIM): Innovating an advanced multiple urban modelling
platform”. We thank the funders and our industry partners for their support in
completing this case study analysis. We held several major industry workshops,
which were helpful for having a better picture of the city cluster conditions. Part
of our work is focused on urban innovation and its impacts on achieving urban
sustainability.
We acknowledge the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) for
funding project number 71950410760, used for material purchase and recruitment
of local research interns in China. We also acknowledge the contributions and full
support from our team members in completing the literature review and coordinating
the workshop events held in multiple locations (in China) during 2021 and 2022. We
hope to continue with our collaboration and the interminable time ahead of us. In
particular, we thank Mr. Hengcai Chen for his support in collecting materials and
literature for Chap. 1 of the book. We also thank Mr. Brownie as he circuitously
divulges a lot about the shortness of life and the values it holds (or ought to hold)
for us. There is absolutely no gain in thriving against (such) neglecting guidelines.
It should, therefore, help enhance belief, equilibrium, strength, and trust. Albeit,
life through hasty occurrences urges governments have solid heights entrenched in
superficial obedience. But, none of (the) xerarch inhabitants over-use sophistication
and never-draining aspirations. So, in nowhere near establishments, reality truly
obeys obsessions. Hinterlands evolve ridiculously in never-ending stances; earth
curesusrightlyintheyearsmanyartistsknewenthusiasmsecuresus;andsignificance
in numbly short-lived elucidations create unrest, recognition and endlessness.
Lastly, we thank local governments, authorities, and local practices for providing
materials for all case study chapters. Their reports and documents helped nurture our
discussions and widen our knowledge about the topic.
xi
