Passage 1

China is known to the international community as the world's most populous country. It also sets world migration records—not in terms of immigration in and out of the country but migration from rural to urban areas. Every year, 8.5 million people make the move from their rural homes to one of over 90 megalopolises in China. The number of migrants is expected to continue to rise and up to 75 million will make similar journeys over the next 5 years. This unprecedented mass migration is the driving force behind tipping the demographics of world population distribution. At the moment, the world population distribution is split down the middle, with 3.2 billion living in urban areas and 3.2 billion in the countryside, but by the end of 2007, high-rise apartments will be the home to more people than the fields.

Statistics aside, this population shift is the prime stimulus for the construction boom that China has been experiencing over the past few years. 12 years ago, there were no private architectural firms in China and prior to that there was 50 years of very little to no construction. These days, Shanghai has 4,000 skyscrapers, twice as many as New York City, with 1,000 more on the drawing board that will be completed by the end of the decade. China's construction projects consume half of the world's concrete, a third of the world's steel and all of Australia's iron ore. 2006 will see more than 4.7 billion square feet of construction, up from 2 billion in 1998. Miniature cities are popping up at rapid speed, complete with artificial lakes, shopping centres, hospitals, cinemas, hotels and parks.

A host of world leading architects have been hired with the specific aim of designing innovative buildings that will stand out among the crowds of people, cars and other structures. A classic example of this innovation is the unprecedented design from Koolhaas, which features a unique structure that required its own expert review panel to pass national building codes and standards and gain government approval. The structure consists of two leaning towers bent at 90 degrees at the top and bottom and joined together by L shapes to form a continuous loop. Another planned architectural marvel will be the world's tallest building in 2008. A rectangular cut-out at the building's apex was devised to withstand high winds and to accommodate the world's highest observation deck set on the 100th floor.

Some other designs draw on nature for inspiration and are more environmentally friendly. One sports stadium designed by Herzog and de Meuron takes the form of a bird's nest in order to provide a natural ventilation system for spectators and players while at the same time also providing constant shelter from the forces of nature. A swimming centre to be used in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing will use solar energy to heat the pools and will reuse double filtered and backwashed pool water, which is usually dumped as waste. Excess rainwater will be stored in subterranean tanks and used to top up the pools.

An eco-friendly project on a much grander scale is the world's first fully sustainable 'cosmopolis', which will be roughly three quarters the size of Manhattan. It will include sustainable energy management, waste management and water purification systems, among other things. Another building under construction will include the world's largest geothermal cooling and heating system. The system pumps water from 100 metres below the surface through the concrete floors of the buildings which are connected by a ring of amenities on the 20th floor.

The price of these buildings is obviously astronomical. Foreign companies like Morgan Stanley have invested over 700 million dollars in commercial real estate in Shanghai alone. The cost of the world's tallest building, which is mentioned earlier, exceeds 1 billion US dollars.

The cost to the environment and society due to this construction boom is even more alarming than the financial expense. China is the second largest producer of greenhouse gases after the US, and according to the WHO, China has seven of the world's ten most polluted cities. Despite this, the construction stops at nothing. Companies operate 24/7 and bulldoze over anything in their path, including dinosaur bones, ancient inscriptions on stones among other things of archaeological significance. Millions of homes have been destroyed, resulting in the relocation of tens of millions of civilians, often against their will. In regard to the economy, many fear that this real estate bubble will burst and have devastating effects.

Yung Ho Chang, one of China's most prominent architects and head of the architecture department in MIT, aired his views on Chinese architecture in an interview with Business Week magazine. He believes that these superstructures, although interesting and challenging in design, do not relate to their cities that much. They do provide a city with an iconic image, but they have little civic significance and will not affect everyday people's lives. Therefore, these buildings will most likely have a bigger impact outside the country than within. Chang is of the opinion that China's architects should be designing real buildings for real cities that efficiently manage the space around them.