A Different Take on "Cities of the Future"

          After reading Annelise's post on Tianjin's new "Eco-City" (Mind the fact that Tianjin is actually already a city with a population of ~13 million) and having followed the link in her post, I wondered how I might address her last sentence: "America should also get on board because a city like Tianjin is the city of the future." Although I am excited by the enthusiasm and initiative of the project, I cannot help but wonder, how they expect to pull this project off. Tianjin itself is an extremely environmentally-unsafe city, which has lead some critics to argue that attempting to build an eco-friendly city is simply a propaganda move by the Chinese government (ThinkDesign). I, however, do not think that making the Eco-City itself is actually the main focus of this project. Instead, the city provides a breeding ground for testing new approaches to creating greener cities.
          As Annelise said, over 600 companies already have signed on to the project, but going further, they have signed on to test out their own environmentally friendly products. Take for instance GM's driver-less cars that are expected to be ready or on the market by 2020. GM, like many other "green" companies, wants to use Tianjin as a proving ground/practice area to test their new technologies. Other innovations include in-home medical evaluations, a Swedish waste management systems that takes trash away from your house, and not to mention the widespread use of solar, wind, and various other green technologies that will be integrated throughout the city (Good but possibly outdated NY Times article discusses more of the proposed projects). 
          This city will not only feature many state-of-the-art green technologies but also the development of eco-friendly city planning on a huge scale. With seven city sectors, each designed for a specific purpose, and widely accessible green transportation, getting around the city will be very environmentally friendly. Reshaping our transportation practices, water and waste management techniques, and energy consumption proclivities certainly is on the cutting edge of city planning. Going back to Annelise's last sentence, I wonder whether the U.S. should get on board and how might we benefit from this forward-looking development in urban planning and green tech-integrated cities. 
          Obviously, with 80% of the population already living in urban areas, the U.S. will not be engaging in city building like China, but hopefully lawmakers can adapt the technologies that are going into these eco-cities into our own urban surroundings. However, if our cities, which are mainly centers of employment for people living in the suburbs, are unable to be re-planned, will we be forever stuck with this environmentally-unfriendly, antiquated public infrastructure?  Is Tianjin really a futuristic city or just some narrow experiment that does not apply to countries with already highly urbanized populations? What does this say about the idea of eco-cities as the "cities of the future"? Only time will tell to see if Tianjin can prove to be environmentally friendly. I would doubt that the Tianjin eco-city will change much for its future inhabitants, considering the widespread heavy pollution ~6 miles to the south, where morning commutes are like this:

(by the way that's not fog)


ThinkDesign Article: http://www.thinkdesignmagazine.com/architecture/tianjin-eco-city-the-future-or-a-chinese-hoax