Dongtan Eco-City “Shouldn’t be a Marketing Tool”, Top Planners Warn.

The proposed development of the World’s first eco-city, Dongtan, has come under new scrutiny with further speculation surrounding its actual ecological credentials. Dongtan is yet to be built, but already is heavily hyped. The city’s rapidly growing appreciation among many developed countries, especially Britain, is accompanied by uprising controversy of its real purpose. Slated as a marketing instrument and a push for China in the competition to get on the green ‘fast-train’, instead Dongtan should be viewed as a positive step in relieving Chinese environmental pressure. The great political and ideological intentions the project portrays have been widely recognized and its status as a potential branding strategy for Shanghai is coming to light.The future of Dongtan lies in moving away from the view of it as a marketing tool. Development costs are high as is the marketing value of such a project and its success will only show through if the new ecological running costs are sufficiently lower. Nonetheless, Dongtan remains “one of the most innovative and outstanding buildings in Asia” an award from the MIPIM in Hong Kong, last November (2007).

Bowerman, G. Dongtan Eco-City “Shouldn’t be a Marketing Tool”, Top Planners Warn.

Source: http://www.bizchina-update.com/content/view/505/2/