What is the urbanization trap of Latin American countries?

The trap of urbanization: the environment of metropolis is fragile. When people travel between cities every day and enjoy the fruits of civilization, they always tolerate its growing disadvantages, although there are complaints from time to time. In fact, this city has long been "sick". Even if there is a rain and snow weather in nature, most cities will become "indigestion" and fall into the siege of stagnant water or under the pressure of blizzard. Needless to say, it is often accompanied by external changes such as stopping gas supply in winter, lack of electricity and water in summer, and various conditions of its own. A seemingly vibrant city often suddenly falls into paralysis.

Diagnose what is "urban disease"

The acceleration of urbanization, the sharp increase of urban population, and many negative effects brought by urban development, such as environmental deterioration, resource crisis, air pollution, water shortage, noise pollution, traffic congestion, public security deterioration and so on. The city built of reinforced concrete seems to be powerful, but sometimes it will become vulnerable because of a little problem, such as snowstorm, emergency of coal and gas.

The disease of "spreading pie" expansion

"Beijing is a big suburb", the ring road has been built to the sixth ring road, and some areas have reached the boundary of Hebei. Some netizens joked that if you walk along the Sixth Ring Road, your mobile phone will receive a message "Welcome to Hebei Mobile". This "pie-spreading" expansion is a disorderly development model. Even if the subway and viaduct are built, millions of people will gather on this "pie" and all kinds of vehicles will drive everywhere, which can only be crowded and noisy.

Drawing lessons from the construction of urban agglomerations

Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States, has a population of just over 3 million, and there are more than 80 small and medium-sized cities around 1 10,000 square kilometers, forming a "Greater Los Angeles" urban agglomeration with a total population of nearly 1 10,000. A big city that could have been linked together has been dispersed to small and medium-sized cities, and the role of cities as centers of social, economic and cultural activities and centralized residence has not declined. New york and Paris are generally the same layout.

Remind not to make the same mistake again.

The "urban diseases" in developed countries are now "spreading" in many cities in China. There are 655 cities in China, and the population of Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou and Tianjin exceeds 1000 million, among which the leaders of more than1000 cities have put forward the goal of building an international metropolis. The government should attach great importance to the treatment of "urban diseases", strengthen the consciousness of serving the society and the people, study and plan in advance, and avoid repeating the same mistakes in urban development.

A few days ago, a news that happened in Britain had a high click-through rate on the Internet. A woman living in Scotland went out to buy food two days before Christmas. As a result, a snowstorm blocked the traffic and prevented her from going home. She not only missed the Christmas celebration with her family, but also failed to welcome New Year's Day together. After more than ten days, she finally stood at the door again, and several pages of the 20 10 calendar had been torn off.

China people can't "joke" about the exaggerated experience of British aunts. At the beginning of 2008, the freezing rain and snow disaster that swept across most of China gave countless families and individuals in many cities a unique experience: at that time, news broke that someone had walked thousands of miles home. Another example is Xi 'an, that is, a few years ago, almost every time it rained and snowed, the congested city once blocked people's way home.

The simple way to go home has actually become the dream of urbanites. When it comes to the above experiences, people tend to think that the natural climate is the culprit. In fact, from another angle, it is because the city we live in is "sick". Cities that are "sick" from time to time because of unexpected situations are put on the "operating table".

Symptoms (of a disease)

"Beijing is a big suburb"

For Xi citizens, urban water accumulation has long been normal. Once, Kunming Road in the western suburbs was a famous "Kunming Lake" in the rainy season, and the bustling countryside was also a "golden mountain full of water". As for the congestion of multiple sections, it is more common. Therefore, some people compare the blockage of urban sewage pipes to "indigestion" like people, and traffic congestion is "intestinal obstruction".

"This is the' big city disease'." Professor Yan Zheng, a 67-year-old consultant of Fujian provincial government and former president of Fujian Academy of Social Sciences, told Huashang Daily. In 2003, Yan Zheng led the academic research entitled "2 1 Century China Development Report" and wrote "China Urban Development Report", which listed various symptoms of "urban diseases", including air pollution, water shortage and water pollution, noise pollution and social security problems. When it comes to traffic congestion, an "urban disease" that is a headache for all countries in the world, the report uses a separate chapter to elaborate.

"Not only Xi 'an, but the rapid development of any city in the world will cause a series of urban problems. "From the solemn point of view of traveling to more than 20 countries around the world and visiting many international big cities, with the acceleration of urbanization, the sharp increase of urban population, and the negative effects brought by environmental deterioration, resource crisis and urban development, the so-called' urban disease' is increasing and intensifying.

The solemn conclusion of the study is that the reinforced concrete city looks strong, but it is often vulnerable because of a small problem, such as the temporary interruption of the "blood transfusion pipeline". A snowstorm, the emergency of coal and the restriction of gas use will all bring the city into crisis.

And "sick" cities not only affect people's lives, but even devour people's lives.

Take the "urban disease" of traffic as an example. The most extreme thing that happened in China was at 1999. Wang Jun, a reporter from Xinhua News Agency, remembers that Vivian Yafo, president of the South African Architects Association, died in a car accident while crossing the street in Beijing. Wang Jun later read an article written by British architect Peter David, which criticized that Beijing, a huge city with a population of more than10 million, stretches over vast land, reflecting the disharmony between architecture and urban development. Small transport machinery often has to compete with huge transport trucks, as well as a large number of taxis and buses, "either roaring past at an alarming speed or falling into a traffic jam that can never be got rid of."

At that time, Beijing was very ill. Until today, its "traffic disease" has not been cured. Professor Gorman Dunn of the Design Center of Toulon University in New Orleans once said to Wang Jun, "Beijing is a big suburb." Because "Beijing only pursues the width of roads, and these wide roads have nothing to do with the buildings on both sides, (vehicles) just pass quickly. This is a typical suburban model. "

Closely question

"Death" and "Life" of Cities

In China, it is the last decade that we have paid attention to urbanization.

Professor Wang Jiarang, director of the Institute of Public Administration and Reform of Shaanxi Administration College, told Huashang Daily that in the era of planned economy, there was no "urban disease", but a so-called "urban fear"-for example, the policy of "going to the countryside" was to move a large number of urban people to the countryside.

Youdi Zhu, once a famous reporter of Xinhua News Agency and now the director of the Social Development Department of the Research Office of the State Council, wrote in the book Looking Back: In the 1950s and 1960s, the state reduced the size of cities nationwide and cancelled more than 40 established cities in four years.

However, in the 20 years after 1980, China's urbanization accelerated, and has not slowed down since then. In recent years, the urbanization speed of China is more than twice the average urbanization speed of the same period in the world. Not long ago, it was reported at the Shaanxi Provincial Conference on Housing and Urban-Rural Construction that this year, Shaanxi's urbanization will reach 45%.

In June 2009, China Academy of Social Sciences published the Blue Book of Cities, which revealed that by the end of 2008, the urbanization level of China had reached 45.7%, with an urban population of 607 million, forming 655 established cities, including 1 18 megacities with a population of over one million. The urban population of Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou and Tianjin exceeds10 million.

It is no wonder that American economist Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize winner, thinks that the two things that have the greatest influence on the world at the beginning of 2/kloc-0 century, besides the new technological revolution of mankind, are the urbanization of China.

However, the rapid "growth" of China cities has brought urban problems: how to plan? How to build it? How to manage? How to maintain it? The influx of more and more people will inevitably lead to the shortage of public resources such as water, electricity, gas, education, health and transportation. These problems seem to make city managers unprepared, and the negativity of the city is more and more fully exposed and more complicated. With a little carelessness, the city even coughed and wheezed.

In fact, it's not just China's problem. Bao Shixing, a 77-year-old researcher, is the chief expert of China Urban Science Research Association. He combed the urbanization process of human society for the reporter of China Business Daily: as early as the 1960s of 18 to the 1960s of 19, the industrialization promoted by the industrial revolution, and then the urbanization promoted, caused the concentration of population, productivity, infrastructure and other factors, making cities "sick" like "endemic diseases".

European and American countries that suffered from "urban diseases" in the early days also tried to solve the problem. Until 196 1, an American woman named Jacobs put forward the Hamlet-style question about "urban diseases", and she wrote a book "Death and Life in American Big Cities".

Jacobs used to be a reporter and managed a building. In her eyes, many diseases make American big cities seem to be on the verge of "death". She tried to subvert people's inherent evaluation of "urban disease" with the unique "rambling" of women. For example, she believes that "traffic congestion is not because there are many cars, but because urban planning rigidly isolates many areas, making people have to rely on cars"; For another example, the scholar said that "urban space should be open", but she "felt that cities should be denser and form a kind of" chaos "that people can enjoy.

Jacobs put big American cities like new york and Chicago on the operating table and dissected them mercilessly. Although almost all urban planners are angered and think that this book is "a woman's point of view" and "nothing but rambling and bringing trouble to urban planning", it is intriguing that the development model of American cities has changed from "death" to "life" at this point.

The book that influenced the development of American cities nearly 50 years ago was published in Chinese in 2005. So late, so timely. It has been found that "urban diseases" in the United States are occurring in many cities in China.

treat a disease

The key is that the government pays enough attention to it.

Speaking of "urban diseases", Professor Wang Jia was deeply touched. For example, he said that it is a big problem for his daughter who works in Beijing to go to work. It is 20 kilometers from the residence in the southern suburbs to the East Third Ring Road. When the traffic jam is like snow, "it's no use having a private car." The capital became the "first wall".

Compared with "urban diseases" such as traffic congestion, Wang Jiaqiong said that the government pays more attention to "urban diseases" caused by occasional and unexpected events such as natural disasters, which has become an assessment index to test government management. Various functional departments have issued emergency plans to deal with various situations closely related to the city, such as electricity, transportation, health and social security.

But some problems can't be solved by a plan. Wang Jiarang's research found that the scale of cities should be controlled, and cities with a population of less than 500,000 have relatively few problems. Once the number of people gathers to one million or even ten million, traffic will become a chronic disease. In response to this problem, "the traditional solution of the government is to continuously increase investment in urban infrastructure." Today, the ring road in Beijing has been built to the Sixth Ring Road, and some areas have reached the boundary of Hebei. Some netizens joked that if you walk on the Sixth Ring Road, your mobile phone will definitely receive such a short message: Welcome to Hebei Mobile.

Professor Yan Zheng criticized that this habitual behavior of "spreading cakes" made the city form a single center and spread endlessly, which was a disorderly development model. Even if the subway and viaduct are built, millions of people will gather on the "pie" of hundreds of square kilometers, and all kinds of vehicles will drive everywhere ... only crowded, noisy and polluted. Just thinking about it is a headache.

What is even more worrying is that "at present, the average' life span' of urban planning in some big cities in China is less than 12 years." In Looking Back, Youdi Zhu bluntly criticized the "short life" of some urban planning. "This reflects the knowledge, concept and vision of decision makers and makers."

Wang Jiarang listed the experience of some big cities abroad in dealing with "urban diseases". For a typical example, the population of Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States, is only over 3 million, but there are more than 80 small and medium-sized cities around 1 0,000 square kilometers, forming a "Greater Los Angeles" urban agglomeration with a total population of nearly 1 0,000 million. A big city that could have been linked together has been dispersed to small and medium-sized cities, and the role of cities as centers of social, economic and cultural activities and centralized residence has not declined.

And new york, Paris, and so on. Comparing this experience with Xi 'an, North-South Center and the "integration of Xi 'an and Xian" under construction will also have certain reference significance for urban agglomerations.

Can this completely cure the "urban disease"? Wang Jiarang hopes that government management can be considered from a longer-term strategic perspective. He extended the extension of this problem to the setting of government departments: "At present, there are not many institutions to solve this kind of' urban disease', that is, the structure of' managing society'."

Wang Jiarang believes that the management function of the government should be transferred to the management of modern society, and "the consciousness of serving the society and the people should be strengthened." In this sense, "the government has not paid enough attention to solving the' urban disease'.

use for reference

Avoid foreign "anti-urbanization"

Slightly different from the above-mentioned experts and scholars, Professor Han Ji, a member of the expert committee of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the chief planner of the Safety Planning Commission, believes that at present, only Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have the so-called "big city disease" in China, and most other cities have the "disease" in the process of traditional agricultural cities moving towards modern cities.

"The biggest traffic problems that plague the city now are mainly imperfect facilities, low traffic organization ability and low management level." Han Ji told Huashang Daily that this has nothing to do with "urban diseases". He said with a smile that when foreign experts deal with such problems, they think we are "children's diseases", but we think we are "geriatric diseases".

Wang Jun once asked I.M. Pei, a world-renowned architect, to evaluate Beijing's urban development. I.M. Pei said, "Beijing has been changing, and it changes every time I come. However, there is only cityplan in Beijing, and there is no urbandesign. He said bluntly, "It's hard to do it well. "

A "difficult-to-do" city will eventually force people not to live in the center of the city, or even "escape from the city". Han Ji said that one of the manifestations of "big city disease" abroad is the empty shell and suburbanization of cities: because of environmental pollution and traffic jams, wealthy people moved to the suburbs, and the city center became the home of civilians and vagrants. In the second half of the 20th century, this kind of "anti-urbanization" happened in developed countries almost without exception.

Bao of the World Bank believes that this phenomenon is worth studying abroad. As the first group of professionals who studied urban planning after liberation, Bao World Bank participated in the reconstruction planning of Tangshan and other places after the Tangshan earthquake as a member of the national expert group. He believes that "urban disease" is accompanied by urban development, and there is a process of constantly appearing problems, solving new problems, and then seeking solutions, just like the tide. The "anti-urbanization" of developed countries has reference value for the urbanization of China. He believes that we should study the problems that have appeared abroad in advance, make multidisciplinary research plans in advance, and avoid taking the old path that others have taken.

Worryingly, among more than 600 cities in China, the leaders of 100 have put forward the goal of building an' international metropolis'. Metropolis may mean that the revision of the overall urban planning is blind. Once this blindness becomes a reality, it will make a city with a bright future repeat the mistakes of chronic diseases.

More than two thousand years ago, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle said that people gather in cities to live, and stay in cities to live better.

The pace of the Shanghai World Expo is getting closer and closer. The theme of this World Expo is "Better City, Better Life". This is the beautiful wish of the city on the "operating table".