Model - Partnerships to sustainability

Posted in Models by fedwards on July 16th, 2007

The capital city of Kunming, southwest China, is an excellent example of the power of partnerships towards urban sustainability. The technical cooperation between Kunming and Zurich started with a project in drinking water supply, expanding to later include “old town protection”, “sewage and waste water treatment”, “city planning” and “urban and regional transport planning”. The model of exchange between the two cities consisted of trust and travel with specialists from Zurich supporting Kunming in urban planning and development while Chinese specialists traveled to Zurich for technical visits or trainings to gain an insight into the management of a modern European city.

Transport pollution - a huge problem in China - has lessened due to this collaboration. Solutions include:
1. Establishing the Kunming Urban Public Transportation Master Plan, which prioritised the Bus Rapid Transport System (BRT) policy. The modern BRT can reach the carrying capacity and service level of rail traffic and its construction and operation costs are much lower that of rail traffic, which makes it suitable for Kunming as a middle-sized city in China. And, 2. Kunming built its first modern bus lane in 1999 which has now extended to a four special bus lanes. Many other changes have also taken place, which include adopting a prohibiting automobiles turn left policy, which has produced mixed responses.

For more information about Kunming and it’s path to sustainability read the article on the S-DEV Geneva ‘05 website.

Tags: networks, Transport, Urban Design and Built Form
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