“As China modernizes its agricultural sector over the next 25 years, the number of its farmers will shrink dramatically. And many of those workers will move to cities. Overall, it's expected that China will need to house some 300 million additional people in urban areas. To put that in perspective: Providing housing for that many people is roughly the equivalent of building from scratch all the cities and towns in the U.S. and doing it in only a quarter of a century. The price tag for all this construction is an estimated $160 trillion -- more than 10 times the size of America's GDP.
This unprecedented demographic shift presents the Chinese with a chance to rethink their cities, making them more sustainable. That's something that's not lost on Peter Calthorpe, a world-class urban designer who has been hired to develop plans for six new cities in China. His Berkeley-based firm, Calthorpe Associates -- which has redesigned urban landscapes in California, Dubai, and Rotterdam, to name a few -- focuses on creating mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented places that are affordable and energy-efficient.”
Fortune continues with an interview with Peter
Photo Credit: Calthorpe Associates of the Ellipse Gateway at Yuelai Eco-City being planned in northern Chongqing, China
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