Beijing is one of the most populated cities in China. It showcases some of the most spectacular architecture's of the world: The Forbidden Kingdom, The Great Wall, Beijing National Stadium, Linked Hybrid, and the CCTV tower that had recently finished it's construction. The food, people, activities, and sights are plenty. Unfortunately the air is harmful. When my architecture class and I visited Beijing during the summer of 2011, the city was not as bad as the pictures below. There was never a blue sky within the two weeks of stay in Beijing. The air was dry, dirty, dusty, and most us found it hard to breath waking up to it. Look at pictures of the city now...it has gotten much worse!
In an article found on archdaily.com titled, "The Indicator: On a Clear Day You can Almost See Beijing," the title reveals it all. How can a new building looking to go green work with this burden? It is like a "sand storm," that layers the city with smog and dirt. According to the author, Guy Horton, the skies of Beijing has gotten worse due to the engines of economic development. Horton states that ten years ago there were fewer buildings, less dirty trucks that release smoke, less cars, which meant less pollution. He also found that certain districts of Beijing was reported to have and AQI(Air Quality Index) of above 900. The World Health Organization says that the report of that air quality can potentially decrease your lifespan by five years. Horton investigates that, globally, roughly 40% of all power is produced using coal, 42% is produced in the US, and 79% is China. The future of Beijing doesn't look so bright either. It will continue to suffer. China will add 160 new coal-fired power plants for the next four years. Just look at Beijing now. Do they need more pollution?
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| http://www.archdaily.com/319419/the-indicator-on-a-clear-day-you-can-almost-see-beijing/ |
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| http://www.archdaily.com/319419/the-indicator-on-a-clear-day-you-can-almost-see-beijing/ |
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| http://www.archdaily.com/319419/the-indicator-on-a-clear-day-you-can-almost-see-beijing/ |
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| http://www.archdaily.com/319419/the-indicator-on-a-clear-day-you-can-almost-see-beijing/ |
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| http://www.archdaily.com/319419/the-indicator-on-a-clear-day-you-can-almost-see-beijing/ |
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| http://www.archdaily.com/319419/the-indicator-on-a-clear-day-you-can-almost-see-beijing/ |
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| http://www.archdaily.com/319419/the-indicator-on-a-clear-day-you-can-almost-see-beijing/ |
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| http://www.archdaily.com/319419/the-indicator-on-a-clear-day-you-can-almost-see-beijing/ |
Coincident that I noticed the same topic in my blogger. I am from China, and since the heavy haze hit China, I read a lot about how it actually happened. There are 3 reasons caused dust haze:
ReplyDelete1. The direct reason is high emission of pollution and dust. Mainly from 3 main pathways: coal mining, industries and vehicles.
2. Construction’s block and friction reduced the movement of air and reduce the speed of little particles diffusion.
3. The location of Beijing is surrounded by hills, further retarded the airflow in the city. Plus huge humidity of the section between winter and spring. Finally form this pollution event.
For now, I did not see any easy way for improving any of above in a short run, therefore, no sign of getting any better there. Actually, as urbanization speeding up in China, things can only getting worse.
Seems like same problem everywhere. In Tehran, the city where I grew up, same problem exists. Once it was just a few days in winter, they called it "inversion"; but as years passed, it got worse to the extant that this year, there were only 188 "healthy days" and 2 days were totally clean. The main reason for such heavy pollution is the geographical issues with the city which is embraced by the alborz mountains and placement of factories on west of tehran so that the wind would direct the pollution to the city and it will be trapped by the mountains. Old vehicles and low quality gasoline amplify the situation.
ReplyDeleteCases like Beijing, Tehran and many other cities confronting these problems make me doubt the sustainable approach's suggestion in order to reduce the impact on nature. I've been wondering what green strategies could be applied to help with the current situation.