From Chinese Press

Stop the demolition menace

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-17 07:47

Chen Huai, director of the policy research office of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said at a recent meeting that about half the houses standing in China's cities today would be razed and replaced by new structures in the next 20 years, says an article on www.cien.com.cn. Excerpts:

The huge waste of resources in pulling down half the existing houses in the country's cities and building new, modern buildings is beyond imagination. Since saving energy is the part of the government's new policy, it makes a lot more sense to take measures to make the existing houses more useful. Why do we need to rebuild?

According to Qiu Baoxing, deputy minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the average lifetime of buildings in China is only 30 years because of "various reasons". But hundreds-year-old houses are quite common in other countries. In fact, many houses have withstood the elements for more than a century even in China, and are strong enough to last another century or so. Moreover, such houses have blended perfectly with the architecture of modern cities.

Strengthening such houses is not enough to extend their life. Two other factors have to be considered: farsightedness of city planners and the aesthetics of modern architecture. And it's these two factors that we lack the most.

Some local governments have joined real estate developers in the race to demolish and rebuild. They have failed to focus on long-term city planning to ensure quality construction.

Plus, the emergence of a consumers' market has made property developers care less and less about housing design and quality. Only through the joint efforts of the government and property developers can we build durable and good quality houses. The governments have to realize that the houses they build after tearing down the old ones today could in a few years be identified as old and weak. So where does this demolition and rebuilding madness end?

(China Daily 08/17/2010 page9)