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The environmental cost of China's addiction to cement (www.bbc.com)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

23 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The use of concrete exploded to fuel China's rise. Now the costs of this weighty material are being counted.

China's cities are sinking – apparent victims of their own success. Large swathes of the country's population now live in major cities that are subsiding at more than 3mm (0.1in) per year, according to a recent study. Some areas are sinking by more than 45mm (1.7in) each year, such as parts of Beijing. And by 2120, around a quarter of China's coastal land will be beneath sea-level, the researchers predict.

While there are a number of reasons for the subsidence, the researchers have pointed to the rapid rate of urban development as among the culprits. The huge amounts of groundwater abstraction needed to support urban populations alongside the weight of the buildings and city infrastructure were singled out by the researchers as contributing to the sinking.

It follows similar research in New York City that found the enormous weight of the concrete, glass and steel – an estimated 762 million tonnes – in the city's skyscrapers were contributing to subsidence of the land they sit upon.

Both studies have shone a light on some of the unexpected effects of urban development. But the Chinese research in particular has highlighted just how rapidly China's cities have developed and the scale of urban expansion in the city.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (6 children)

What you’re saying just isn’t true though. China isn’t overbuilding by any meaningful metric. Their urbanization rate is really low compared to developed nations like the US. They have a huge population so their total rate of construction while urbanizing is unique. However the actual process of urbanization isn’t unique at all.

If you look at historical data the US followed a very similar trend with rapid urbanization ramping up until around the 1960s. That rapid development included a mix of shoddy and quality construction. Additional urbanization was more difficult to achieve and growth slowed. That’s basically what you’re seeing in China now too.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Nonsense. The US didn't build entire fake cities that are totally empty, because they solely exist as investment scams and are not suitable for people to live in.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Aren't those ghost cities now mostly filled with people?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

They are not. Everything indicates that they remain uninhabited. Ghost cities are usually built in regions with cheap lease prices for land, which are cheap for a reason: Poor infrastructure, few jobs and opportunities.

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