Packing, Communicating, and Money in/for China:
Planning to go to China is difficult because before you even begin packing you have to make a few decisions. The first, do you want a large suitcase or a small suitcase? To help answer this question you should also probably work out just how much you want to buy once you get to China. For example, do you want to buy a kite? Yes, my roommate for this trip bought a kite, which was great for her because she had room, but had I bought a kite I would not have had the room to bring it back. The second major question is, do you plan on buying your hygienic products while there? Truth be told, you never remember to pack everything when traveling, so my advice is to just go ahead and buy shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, and soap while in China. Even though we could not read some of the signs, these different products were surprisingly easy to distinguish in local grocery stores. Some products I would recommend bringing with you include: makeup, hair gel, extra glasses, facial wipes, baby powder (for greasy hair), a small bottle of perfume, and tissues. Probably the most important item from that list would be the tissues because in China the restrooms rarely provide you with toilet paper. In this instance, rarely means almost never. In fact, only really, really nice restaurants and hotels (or western-styled bars) provide their customers with toilet paper. Pack tissues.
While in China, plan on having less contact with your family than usual. If you have a smart phone or an ipad or a laptop that you are willing to bring with you, then you will have an easier time because there are many areas where you can find wifi. I did not pack my laptop because I was constantly worried that if I left that expensive and important piece of equipment in my hotel room or dorm room that it would be stolen. I turned out to be overly paranoid. None of my fellow classmates had their things taken from their rooms. Pick pocketing happened once in the Forbidden City but besides that, China is an extremely safe place in terms of theft. I recommend taking one item that will allow you to get online because it will make it easier to keep in touch with your family. However, even with these items you need to be clear with your family members that you will be busy, that internet connection will be spotty, and that if any emergency does happen that they will be informed by your professors and/or the American Embassy.
Another major issue to consider when leaving for China is how to get money. What was nice about this class is that we divided up some of the most important questions on this and posted our findings. The most important thing to do for money is to call well in advance and let your bank know that you will be going to China and to be sure that your card will work during that time period in China. If your bank tells you it won’t, take out whatever money you hope to spend in China (in cash) and get it exchanged. The fee for exchanging will equal about the same amount as what an ATM fee in China would. Most of us took our cards and withdrew from the ATM what we needed because we didn’t want to be carrying a ton of cash on us all the time. This seemed to work out fine, but again, it also depended on the individual and what their bank was charging per ATM transaction.
What I learned in Terms of Sustainable Urbanism in China:
Is China sustainable? The answer to that question is a resounding no. Could it become sustainable in the future? Possibly. But the bigger question I had when I first entered China was, how much of an impact do designers have on the environment and on the cityscape. The answer was very surprising and also very complex.
Some things we identified as crucial for a sustainable city included: clean effective and fast public transportation, distinguishing different modes of transportation on the roads, providing areas of pedestrian-friendly streets, city planning that incorporates multi-use function areas so that residents had necessities within easy walking distance, effort made for addressing pollutants, effort made to reduce waste through recycling, reuse, or reclamation of land, and a government willing to back all of the above and stick to a plan or an evolving plan to be more sustainable. This definition of sustainable design pretty much pointed to the need for designer, scientific, and governmental cooperation for a successful application of sustainable design. I was very interested in finding out how well China worked through these issues.
Their public transportation was very effective, clear and helpful, especially in Beijing where the subways were all built in concentric circles under the cities’ main grid. Jinan had a much better road system however in that they had clearly marked lanes for bus traffic, car traffic, bicycle traffic and pedestrian traffic. Beijing sorely needs this, as their current situation on the road is dangerous for all parties involved. In both Beijing and Jinan, however, mixed-use functions were common everywhere. From what I saw from traveling around, food, entertainment, exercise, and transportation were all within easy access of residences. What was difficult for most people was getting to work or to school, but even that was addressed by the government in a mandate that pushed businesses start times back from 8am to 9am to help lighten traffic jams. However, the larger issue that exists in regards to this is the rising population level in China’s cities. While, yes, downtown had many opportunities for residents to sleep, eat, work and play all within a few blocks of each other, the reality is that many people cannot live that life because most homes or residences are already filled up. Many people who move into the city have to live on the outskirts and then work their way in for work. This puts a strain on the public transportation during rush hour and has resulted in a stronger call for personal cars. More and more people in China are buying their own cars because the buses and trains are so full. Unfortunately this increases the traffic congestion and also increases the exhaust fumes of the city.
To deal with this traffic and pollution issue China’s government and scientists have been working somewhat hand in hand. In the design of some new cities including Tianjin, the government has required more energy efficient modes of transportation. In China’s current cities they have also been attempting to discourage car transportation by raising the parking prices. The good scientists of BCRC Beijing School of Environmental Technology at Tsinghua University and Qianfoshan Campus with Shandong University are also working on cleaning up the pollution of China’s riverways and air. While scientists from BCRC work extensively to clean up pollution that occurs from factories and run-off, Qianfoshan scientists work on finding an effective way to remove PM 2.5 and other major pollutants from the exhaust in China’s powerplants. These filters seem to require more testing, but with this hopefully the technology will be employed in China’s massive powerplants within the next decade. This will greatly reduce the smog that is so prevalent in China.
While all of these things seem to point towards a positive future, the planning process seemed to point in a different direction. From what I understood from the interview we had with the architectural firm BLVD, the issue with the planning process is that everything happens very fast. While thought is still given to personal projects, not all projects that get built are sustainable or even have sustainability as the main core of the design idea. What gets built typically are the designs that have the best presentation graphics, the most original idea, or some combination of the two. Another issue that was made clear was that while there are governmental officials that champion sustainability and that have in the past drawn up city plans that would mean more sustainable practices are followed, these plans were rewritten or abandoned once a new politician took office. The fast paced nature of the construction in China coupled with the boardrooms seemingly superficial and fickle decision-making makes the prospect of a sustainable China very unlikely.
Along with this are the construction issues that are found in China. From our talk with BLVD, we learned that the architect and city-planner in China has to do very clear detail work, otherwise the structure will not be built in an attractive or safe way. The contractors have impossible deadlines to meet and so craft is often thrown to the wayside in construction in favor of meeting the deadline of opening date. To meet this deadline, many contractors also have to hire a lot of unskilled labor to pull together a building. These workers possibly have never built a multi-story building before nor dealt with a powertool before, but they come to work and they look at the detailed drawings and they do the best they can using what they know. The result is often a rough image of what the designer originally intended. These poor construction standards mean more of a headache for the designer because if the idea was to have many sustainable elements, then the construction has to be well done in order to be energy efficient, let alone aesthetically similar to the proposed project.
In conclusion, it is very unclear whether China will be able to become sustainable in it’s planning. It certainly is attempting to clean up it’s pollution, but a formal statement to make cities sustainable has not been made by the government, nor is it one that is passionately spoken about by many of its leaders. However, this could change in the years to come as China continues to rank itself as a leader of industry in the world. As this happens, they will also begin to compete for higher standards of living and this competition may very well result in a stronger base for sustainable design.
Review of the Class:
In terms of changes for the future, if I could’ve asked for anything for this trip it would have been more time. I would have loved an extra day per city to get my bearings.
I also think that splitting up the lecture days with the site-seeing days would have been very helpful for us because staying alert for 5-6 hours a day several days in a row was pretty difficult. It’s doable, but it is difficult.
The final recommendation that I would make in regards to this class for the future is, before heading to China students get a basic introduction to design terms and the design process as well as a basic introduction to the chemical processes that occur in power plants and landfills. While we did help each other out and provided explanations of some of these terms, many students who were not in design were often confused when architects and urban planners used terms such as “form”, “city texture”, and “massing”, all of which are basic terms in the architectural and urban planning fields. On the other side of that, when going through the more scientifically oriented tours such as the lab tour, the powerplant tour, and the landfill tour, those in the design majors or classes were also confused and lost when listening to the description of the chemical processes involved in desulfurization. A basic rundown of both of these fields would help us get more out of these experiences.
All in all, this class was interesting, challenging, and eye-opening. I learned so much in such a short period of time and not just about sustainability and the complex dynamic that makes up city growth, but also about the Chinese culture and way of living. I also made some really great friends and had an excellent time abroad.