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REAL ESTATE: The Magic of a Planned City
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The Magic of a Planned City

By Michael Hart

BT 201910 REAL 02In 2009, economist Paul Romer gave a TED talk about “Charter Cities.” He had an idea, that if governments in developing worlds, places that were expected to see large amounts of urbanization in the coming decades, would plan and lay out cities, not micromanage them, but just create a framework and put in basic services, they would be laying the foundation for dynamic economic growth. This master plan was an alternative to trying to come in later and impose order upon cities that evolved piecemeal as economic migrants arrived in a more chaotic manner. Plenty of examples of the latter exist today in India, parts of South America and Africa with dynamic cities that are characterized by urban slums, where governments now struggle to deliver services and residents struggle to take full advantage of the prosperity that cities can provide.
 

2009年,经济学家保罗•罗默(Paul Romer)发表了一篇关于“宪章城市”的TED演讲。他有一个想法:如果发展中国家的政府,将预计未来几十年会出现大规模城市化的地方,进行计划和布局,不仅是微观管理它们,而是创建一个框架并提供基本服务,它们将为动态经济增长奠定基础。

BT 201910 REAL 03Mr Romer was pointing out that several billion people will continue to move to cities between now and 2050 and if done right, migration will create tremendous prosperity, but if done wrong, it will be a mess, and probably one we can’t fix. He has frequently cited the example of New York City, which in 1811, when the city had plenty of empty land and a small population, laid out a grid for the whole of Manhattan, the island we all know today as the heart of New York City. At that time there was no need for such an extensive grid. However, having this framework allowed for the later growth of the city in an orderly fashion allowing the government to deliver services, and allowing citizens to invest for the long term in their homes and businesses, and thus drive the city to where it is today, a leading global city. He tried to convince several governments to create such a charter city, but they never got off the ground.
 

罗默先生指出,从现在到2050年,数十亿人将继续迁往城市,如果做得好,移民将创造巨大的繁荣,但如果做错了,那将是一团糟,可能是我们无法解决的问题。他经常引用纽约市的例子,在1811年,当这座城市拥有大片空地时,整个曼哈顿布置了一个网格,我们今天所知道的岛屿是纽约的城市中心,当时没有必要做这么广泛的网格。然而,拥有这个网格允许城市有序的后期增长,允许政府提供服务,并允许公民长期投资于他们的家庭和企业,从而推动城市到现在的位置,领先的全球城市。
 

Experiment in a Desert

Dawn in Black Rock Desert Nev. on the spot where Burning Man would soon be set upDawn in Black Rock Desert, Nev., on the spot where Burning Man would soon be set up

Order underlies the chaos of the festival. Streets are exactly 40 feet wide plazas steer people into common spaces the 430 fire extinguishers around town each have their own QR codeOrder underlies the chaos of the festival. Streets are exactly 40 feet wide; plazas steer people into common spaces; the 430 fire extinguishers around town each have their own QR code

In 2018, Paul Romer won the Nobel Prize in Economics, not for his work on cities specifically, but for his work on how to measure ideas and their impact on GDP. But he is still thinking about cities. And in 2019 he attended “Burning Man” an annual event that takes place in the barren Nevada desert each summer, but has some parallels to his idea about charter cities. A few weeks before the event takes place, a group of organizers shows up and surveys a street grid. Shortly thereafter tens of thousands of participants show up for a two-week event and live within that grid. At the end, the people leave, the area is cleaned and planning starts for another year. This year, a New York Times journalist took Mr Romer there for both the initial survey and the actual event. Their stories are worth a read and I’m glad they captured his visits.

The 1996 plan for Black Rock City Burning Man ProjectThe 1996 plan for Black Rock City, Burning Man Project

This years plan Burning Man ProjectThis year’s plan, Burning Man Project

Although initially chaotic, over the years, the Burning Man festival has gotten better at laying out their city and providing a few basic services. What they don’t have to contend with is what problems emerge over the longer term, but it is an interesting experiment anyway and it follows Mr Romer’s advice, which the Times journalist summarized as “Stake out the street grid; separate public from private space; and leave room for what’s to come. Then let the free market take over.”

Black Rock City Burning Man event from the airBlack Rock City (Burning Man event), from the air

在沙漠中进行实验

2018年,保罗罗默获得诺贝尔经济学奖,不是因为他在城市方面的工作,而是因为他在如何衡量思想及其对GDP的影响方面的工作。但他仍在思考城市。在2019年,他参加了“燃烧人”活动,每年夏天在内华达州贫瘠的沙漠中举办一年一度的活动,与他对特许城市的想法有一些相似之处。活动开始前几周,组织者出现并建立街道网格。此后不久,成千上万的参与者出现参加为期两周的活动,并在该网格内生活。最后,人们离开,该地区被清理,开始规划另一年。今年,“纽约时报”的一名记者带领罗默先生参加了初步调查和实际活动,他们的故事值得一读。虽然最初是混乱的,但多年来,“燃烧人”活动已经很好地布局他们的城市并提供基本服务。无论如何这都是一个有趣的实验,它遵循罗默先生的建议。
 

China’s Planned Cities

BT 201910 REAL 01TEDA development zone

Sino Singapore Tianjin Eco CitySino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City

In his 2009 talk, Mr Romer pointed out that China’s Special Economic Zones (SEZs) were built on a similar model. Many people may not realize it, but Tianjin is home to a number of planned urban areas. These include the TEDA development zone (one of those early SEZs), which was largely focused on building a manufacturing centre from scratch, starting in the 1980s. It largely achieved this goal eventually producing around half of Tianjin’s GDP. Furthermore, the TEDA model is now used by the Chinese government in other locations, including Egypt, where the Chinese have set up a similar industrial zone. More recent planned areas include the Sino-Singapore Eco City and the Yujiapu financial district. All of these areas have gotten criticism for not being immediately successful by one metric or another, but I am glad I live close enough that I can visit regularly and make my own assessment as to how they are doing. They each have a grid and good urban planning, they lay out the infrastructure and then development begins, perhaps with a little more government participation in the latter phases than Mr Romer would advise.

Yujiapu Financial DistrictYujiapu Financial District

For decades China has limited the movement of people to cities by the use of the Hukou or household registration system partially to avoid urban slums. That has been gradually loosened, allowing people to move to larger regional cities although still restricting them from the largest cities.

TEDA Cooperation Zone in Suez Canal Economic Zone in Ain Sokhna EgyptTEDA Cooperation Zone in Suez Canal Economic Zone in Ain Sokhna, Egypt

中国的城市计划

罗默先生在2009年的演讲中指出,中国的经济特区(SEZs)建立在类似的模式之上。许多人可能没有意识到这一点,但天津是许多有计划的城市之一。其中包括泰达经济技术开发区(早期经济特区之一),其主要包括从20世纪80年代开始从零建立起来制造中心。它在很大程度上实现了这一目标,最终产出了天津一半左右的GDP。
 

几十年来,中国通过部分使用户口或户籍制度来限制人口流向城市,以避免城市贫民窟。 这已经逐渐放松,允许人们迁移到更大的城市。
 

For those of us with an interest in urban development, China will continue to be an interesting laboratory. Things may not evolve quite as fast as Burning Man, but with a number of centrally planned cities, zones and districts, we will be able to witness the process from initial plans to implementation. And unlike the event in the Nevada desert, there is no need to buy a ticket.
 

对于我们这些对城市发展感兴趣的人来说,中国将继续成为一个有趣的实验室。事情可能不会像“燃烧人”活动那样快速发展,但是通过一些中央计划的城市或区域,我们将能够见证从初始计划到实施的过程。与内华达州沙漠中的活动不同,我们不必为此买票。
 

Author: Michael Hart is the Managing Director of Griffin Business Management www.griffinbiz.com a real estate related consulting firm with offices in Tianjin.

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