Study On Building Up Shanghai As An Environmental Friendly City

Along with the rapid development of society and economy, the impacts exerted on natural environment by human activities are becoming more and more serious. The environmental problem has gradually developed from some regional issue to a global one, which is affecting all the countries in the world and has been a focus of the world's attention, as well as the core of the theory of sustainable development. There must be regional actions to respond to the impacts on global environment. Cities are involved in environmental problems, so that they should be also involved in projects of dealing with those problems. To attain sustainable development in the world, first of all, the issue of city should be handled to integrate development with environmental protection.This dissertation is written on the basis of the two research projects undertaken by Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau. One is "Studies on the Plan of Environmental Protection in Shanghai during the Period of 'the Eleventh Five-Year Plan'and the Third Three-Year Plan of Actions for Environmental Protection", and the other, a joint research project with UNDP, "Studies on the System of Criteria for Making Shanghai an Environment-friendly City". It is completed with the help of my experience, basic information and firsthand data gained from working for environmental protection for a long time.By means of analyzing the origin and development of environmental problems occurred at home and abroad, and researching the theory of sustainable development and the practice of urban sustainable development, this paper further explores the content and significance of making Shanghai an environment-friendly city. Taking the strategy of sustainable development in Shanghai and the trends towards a conservation-minded and environment-friendly society into consideration, this paper provides an overall analysis of the conditions and opportunities for making Shanghai an environment-friendly city, and an overall evaluation of the problems and challenges that we are facing at present. To facilitate guiding, tracing and assessing the progress of making Shanghai an environment-friendly city, according to domestic and foreign experience, an operative system of criteria, which conforms to the conditions in Shanghai and to the international concepts, is put forth here. Also, illustrated evaluation adopted only in small areas in other countries is used here in tracing assessment of urban indicators. Guided by such a system of criteria, this paper systematically analyzes the actual situation in Shanghai and proposes the top-rated fields of work, the majorobjectives and specific projects to furnish a basis for the government to make decisions.Since in the world, building an environment-friendly city is still in the stage of trial, it is necessary to stick to the three "links" to undertake environmental protection and improvement in such an exceptionally large city as Shanghai: to link the theory of sustainable development with the responses from all the districts of the city; to link the research of materials and information with the analysis and evaluation of the current situation and conditions in Shanghai, especially comparing the former with those done in other cities for reference; and to link theory with practice, i.e., to put theoretical framework and system criteria into effect by means of specific projects.The original ideas and main contributions of this dissertation are as follows:1. It is the first paper of systematical research on building an environment-friendly city. It defines an environment-friendly city and its content. An environment-friendly city is a transition state during the process of evolvement towards an ecological city and sustainable development. It is emphasized in such a city that man is fully in harmony with environment, and both are friendly with each other. The current natural environment, resources, and level of economy, society and culture in such a city during a certain period of time should be objectively reflected. Through the process of environment protection and ecological improvement, the best eco-environment, the most optimized resource allocation and the fittest way of thinking and behaving are to be achieved.2. In this paper there are original ideas and breakthrough in the studies on the system of criteria for an environment-friendly city. This paper puts forward an operative system of criteria that is in accordance with the characteristics of Shanghai and conforms to international theoretical concepts, especially the new idea of Environmental Governance. The use of illustrated evaluation, which is adopted in small areas in other countries, in tracing and assessing urban indicators, is a new methodology that makes the exposition clear and direct.3. The achievements of research in this dissertation are already shared by different departments for their practical applicability. The Shanghai Municipal Government has taken part of the achievements as important grounds for drawing up local Plan of Environmental Protection during the Period of "the Eleventh Five-Year Plan" and the ThirdThree-Year Plan of Actions for Environmental Protection. On the basis of these achievements, the UN will cooperate with Shanghai in carrying out the "Shanghai Environmental Friendly City Initiative" and will introduce Shanghai experience to the world.