CRI听力:China Releases Guidelines to Build Better Cities

Urbanization in the past few decades has brought about significant social and economic changes in China.

However, rapid urbanization has also spawned serious problems such as traffic jams, pollution and public safety hazards.

To cure such urban ills, the document released on Sunday set a variety of basic principles, key tasks and targets for future urban development and management.

Zhang Linwei, an official from China's Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said the document put forward many specific issues concerning urban construction.

"The document mentions issues including energy savings, green development, environmental protection, road construction and planning, and ecological remediation. It also gives some instructions on issues such as water and air, two important factors affecting urban life."

According to the guidelines, China will limit cities from growing beyond the means of their natural resources and environment.

Priority will be given to the protection of farmlands, while land for construction use will be properly allocated.

Illegal construction will be inspected and cleared up during the next 5 years, and efforts will be intensified to cut cities' pollutant emission by increasing suppllies of clean fuel.

The document also called on city planners to differentiate cities with special urban landscapes based on local characteristics.

Yang Baojun, deputy head of the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design, explained the benefits of the new guidelines.

"If we see it from an international perspective, distinguishing local characteristics to improve charm of the city is an important step to improve the city's competitiveness, because a city with its own characteristics can make its residents have a sense of pride and identity."

The document also urged that building design and construction processes should not only consider exterior factors, but also other factors such as resource and energy conservation as well as environmental protection.

The renovation of rundown urban areas and dilapidated housing will be completed by 2020 so as to provide low-income urban residents with affordable and high quality housing.

Meantime, urban planning and construction of infrastructure will be improved both underground and overground with better standards and project quality.

Zhang Linwei explained further about plans to improve drainage systems.

"By 2020, 20 percent of the cities should have drainage systems which meet requirements of 'Sponge City'; by 2030, 80 percent of the cities should reach the requirements of 'Sponge City'. The guideline clearly indicates that 'light rains should not result in water logging and heavy rains shoud not cause serious flooding in cities. Moreover, the urban heat-island effect should be alleviated."

The guidelines comes as the municipal authority of Beijing has announced plans to build ventilation corridors to help air flow through the city and blow away smog and pollutants from the capital.

The guidelines also say that China will further raise the penetration its public transport network by 2020 in a bid to ease traffic jams in cities.

Smart cities' development through Internet technologies like big data and cloud computing has also been encouraged in a bid to upgrade urban management and services.

For CRI, I'm Xie Cheng.