Chinese Cities - Sciences Po - OGLM 3050 - 59127 - S2 2025 Clément Renaud [hi@clementrenaud.com](mailto:hi@clementrenaud.com) (use left/right keyboard arrows to navigate) --- class: inverse, center, middle ## Week 10 # 保 ## Hazards: Sustainability And Environmental Challenges #### 8 Apr 2025 --- class: inverse, center, middle ## Character of the week # 保 [Purple Culture](https://www.purpleculture.net/dictionary-details/?word=保) / [Hanziyuan](https://hanziyuan.net/) / [CUHK dic](https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=保) --- class: inverse # Some practical matters - [Fiche de présence](https://scolarite.sciences-po.fr/PROD/twbkwbis.P_GenMenu?name=homepage) - Assignments - Any questions? --- # Today - Feedback on assignment 1 - 1. Natural hazards in China - 2. "ecological civilizatio" and green jargon - 3. some case studies - Assignment 2 --- class: inverse, middle # Made in China > A Shein t-shirt, rubber dampers, a flip camera cover case for iphone 13/14 pro, a 1971 cultural revolution poster, shipping containers, natural hair wigs, levantine coffee cups, an eco-friendly wicker coffin, Ankara “wax print” fabric, the Belgrade-Budapest high-speed railway, cryopreserved ovocytes, the Segway Ninebot electric scooter, Bogotá’s metro train, tulle lingerie, Nissan Tsuru-compatible 1 din car stereo, instant noodles, Hydroflask stainless steel water bottles, and a Tecno Spak 10c phone. Good job ! - real effort on investigation - picking an object can be hard - carried away by the object (urban studies?) - social & ethical concerns - "opaque", "mysterious", etc ? --- class: inverse, middle # 1. China Natural Hazards ### > 70% of Chinese cities face floods, earthquakes, or landslides (World Bank). --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/yu-the-great.jpg) # The water 大禹治水 - Yu the great --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/china-water-scarcity.png) # Water Stress .footnote[ See also: - [Reuters graphics](https://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/14/chinawater/index.html) - [WRI’s New Water Stress Map](https://cwrrr.org/opinions/wris-new-china-water-stress-map/) ] --- # Floods https://multimedia.scmp.com/infographics/news/china/article/3094790/china-floods/index.html ### Yangtze River Floods **Key Issues:** - Dams & levees displace risk downstream. - Urban encroachment on floodplains (Wuhan). - Policy Response: "Sponge City" programs --- # Earthquakes - Rapid urban growth in seismic zones. - Poor construction in rural areas. - Sichuan Basin (2008 quake killed 87,000). - Stricter building codes (e.g., "quake-proof" Chengdu). see ["china earthquake" on Google](https://www.google.com/search?q=china+earthquake) see [trans Re](https://www.transre.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/chinas-natural-hazards-an-introduction.pdf) report --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/china-climate.jpg) # Typhoons 台风 Typhoon Lekima 2019, Super Typhoon Saomai (2006) → $2.5B damage. [Typhoons](https://www.worlddata.info/asia/china/typhoons.php) --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/environmental-degradation.png) # Degraded Ecosystems --- # Degraded Ecosystems - Deforestation → Landslides (e.g., 1998 Yangtze floods). - Wetland loss. Reduced flood buffers - Urban sprawl → Heat islands + air pollution (e.g., Beijing-Tianjin). - Crop yield reductions (10-35%) from ground-level ozone - Nitrogen deposition altering species composition in natural areas - Reduced photosynthesis and plant growth in high-pollution regions etc. --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/sinking-cities.avif) # Sinking cities - 1.8 million km² of land converted to urban use between 1992-2018 - Shanghai’s sinking + sea-level rise. - Mangrove restoration projects (e.g., Guangdong). .footnote[ Grey areas are regional hotspots. For each city, the top left of the circle notes how much of the city is subsiding (blue = not much; dark red = lots) -[source](https://theconversation.com/more-than-a-third-of-urban-chinese-live-in-sinking-cities-heres-what-they-can-do-229089) ] --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/greenhouse-gas.png) # Greenhouse gas ### check [stats](https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-metrics) - highest global emitter - per capita still low - see [consumption-adjusted data](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/consumption-co2-per-capita?country=~PLW) - Industrial pollution： material footprint of the nations (2015) - Food production (almost 50% total emissions) --- # Human-Wildlife Conflict **Ecosystem Stressors:** - Urban expansion into habitats - Zoonotic disease risks (e.g., COVID-19 links to wildlife trade). **Policy:** "Ecological Red Lines" (protected zones). --- class: inverse, middle # 2. Governmental & grassroots responses ### Jargon and plans --- # 2. The "ecological civilization" 生态文明 ### 2007 [Carbon Brief: Glossary](https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/glossary/china/index.html) --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/eco-red-zones.png) # Ecological Red Lines read [report](https://environmental-partnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Policy-Brief-Ecological-Conservation-Redlines-2.pdf) --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/two-mountains.jpg) # "Two mountains" framework ### "clear waters and green mountains are as valuable as gold and silver mountains" ### 綠水青山就是金山银山 .footnote[[source](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301479724009460)] --- # Strategies 1. **Engineering:** Dams, levees, cloud-seeding. 2. **Planning:** Sponge cities, ecological redlines. 3. **Tech:** green business Over-reliance on hard infrastructure --- class: middle, inverse # 3. Water in Wuhan ### 我们的东湖 --- # The "City of Hundred Lakes" ### 百湖之市 - 127 natural lakes within city boundaries - covered 25% of city area in the 1950s Today: - 38 lakes left - -65% surface between 1990-2015 - East Lake lost 30% of surface area - Part of the middle Yangtze River wetland ecosystem - Traditional cultural significance: fishing communities, water transportation, flood regulation --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/flood-wuhan.avif) # A long history of floods .footnote[ - 1931 floods - [old pic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1931_China_floods#/media/File:Hankow_city_hall.jpg) - Yangtze River on July 24, 2020, in Ezhou, China. - more [pics](https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2020/08/photos-chinas-summer-of-floods/615661/) ] --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/wuhan-east-lake.jpg) # East Lake Devlopment project ### grassroot activism [link](https://www.connectingcities.eu/wuhan-east-lake-scenic-area-development-planning/) --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/liwen-donghu.jpg) background-position: top # 我们的东湖 ## [trailer ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEaDfJ4Li-A) ## [link](http://donghu2010.org) ## [article](https://blog.futurechallenges.org/local/author/clement/) --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/sponge-city-wuhan.avif) # Sponge city - Program initiated in 2015 across 30 cities - Urban design to absorb, clean and use rainwater - Restoration of urban wetlands and natural drainage systems - 20% of urban areas meet sponge city standards by 2020 - expercted outcomes: improved flood prevention, partial ecosystem restoration, biodiversity increases in pilot areas --- # Final assignment !