As an extra large city on the coastline of North China, Tianjin has been sparing no efforts in the protection and improvement of the environment during recent years. After becoming the national environmental-friendly model city, Tianjin plans to grow into an ecology-friendly city, seeking the coordinated development between the social and economic development.
In the recent years, Tianjin has been devoted to the improvement of the city’s environment, and implemented projects such as “Clear Sky Project” and “Pure Water Project”. All of the city’s 27 major environmental indexes, which were taken into consideration in the assessment, have met the national standards. Besides, Tianjin grade-B river renovation project has obtained the “Chinese living environment model prize” awarded by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, which has laid a solid foundation for the city’s ecological development.
In 2005, Tianjin was named by the State as a water-conservation and environmentally-friendly model city. After that, Tianjin proposed another plan, aiming at building a national hygienic and garden city, and eventually, an eco-city. Clear about the development orientation of its own, Tianjin has been required to implement the sustainable development strategy steadfastly in order to build an international port city, where the economy is booming, the society is civilized, the technology and education are developed, the facilities are consummated, and the surroundings are excellent. The eco-city will become the economic center of Northern China. Apart from economic development, Tianjin also attached a great emphasis to the compatibility of social and economic development in the concept of sustainable development. Therefore, Tianjin insists that the economic development should get along with human benefit, resource efficiency and environmental protection. Development speed, structure, quality as well as benefit should be unified. On one hand, the city comprehensively optimizes the industrial structure and regional economic layouts, making efforts to solve structural environmental problems. On the other hand, Tianjin speeds up the construction of environmental infrastructures so that the project for comprehensive environmental improvement can work out. Before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, 20 Morale Projects which started in 2007, were basically completed, and the city environment, as well as the functioning of the city’s infrastructure, has improved remarkably, with 59.43 million square meters of the major roads outside the ring road afforested and 20.61 million square meters of the urban districts afforested. Altogether 183 roads of 333 kilometers in length have been comprehensively renovated. All these formed a civic landscape where the hues are coordinated and the surroundings are neat. Through hard and effective work, all the city’s drinking water has met due standard for five consecutive years. Besides, the disposal ratio of city life sewage has reached 80 percent, the innocuous treatment ratio of home trash has increased to 85 percent, while afforestation ratio reached 37 percent. At the end of 2008, the city has essentially reached the standard of a national garden city, and the “Summary of the Ecological City Construction” has been authorized to take effect by Tianjin People’s Congress.
In the process of building an eco-city, Tianjin has strengthened the protection of ecological environment, aiming to promote the harmonious relationship between human and nature. Natural protection areas of Tianjin have occupied 13.66 percent of the whole city land, taking the leading position in the country. Eight towns have been entitled as “national towns with excellent surroundings”. And there are 779 ecological villages and civilized-ecological villages in Tianjin.
Through participating the campaigns of establishing the environmental-friendly model city, hygienic city, garden city and eco-city, Tianjin is expected to streamline all strength to consistently promote the environment and to perfect the city’s function so that the ultimate objective of building an eco-city can be met and citizens can benefit from it.
By 2015 when the goal of building an ecological city is to be met, Tianjin will focus on five eco-system projects, which go as following: the safeguarding system of reasonable disposition and efficient usage of resources; the environmental-governing system; the eco-industry system based on high and new technology, clean production and circulative economy; the human-oriented ecological living system focusing on the harmonious relationship between human and nature, as well as between human and society; and the ecological culture system based on advanced civilization.
Therefore, Tianjin would enlarge the investment for the construction of eco-friendly environment. In addition to the special fund, Tianjin has created a multifaceted mechanism of investment and financing through measures of taxation and loan.
In addition to financial investment, Tianjin also fuels the eco-city construction through legislation. The city strengthens the environmental legislation and works out local regulations and laws regarding ecological protection, ecological compensation, circulative economy, clean production, and resource conservation, etc.
