China’s Philosophy on Development of an Ecological Civilization
265
The first is urban space, which includes urban construction space such as that
within the Fifth Ring Road of Beijing. Urban space also includes industrial and
mining space outside urban residential areas, such as coal mines.
The second is agricultural space, which consists of agricultural production space
and rural residential space.
The third is ecological space, which includes not only green ecological space
such as natural grasslands, woodlands, wetlands, reservoirs, rivers, and lakes but
also non-green space such as heathland, sandy land, saline-alkali land, and plateau
deserts. Although the latter may be of little use for humans at the moment, they are
an integral part of nature and need to be well protected.
The fourth include miscellaneous space, such as transportation infrastructure
space for railways, roads, civil airports, ports and docks, and pipelines, space for
water conservancy facilities, and special space for national defence, religious, and
other purposes.
There are multiple imbalances in China’s spatial structure.
First, compared with the vast production space, ecological space is disproportionately small, unable to meet the needs of 1.4 billion Chinese people for ecological
goods. For instance, the forest coverage in Japan is around 70%, while it is only
slightly higher than 20% in China.
Second, there is much more industrial space than urban residential space.
Currently, industrial and mining space takes up a total of about 60,000 km
2 , including
10,000 km
2 of development zones, which are mainly designed for industrial development despite the limited residential space. Industrial and mining space is too
large compared to the current industrial value added. According to our estimates,
the combined industrial space of Shanghai, Wuxi, and Suzhou exceeds the total of
Japan. Therefore, we should take solid steps to cut down on industrial space.
Lastly, rural residential space is enormous. The total area of homestead land
in China has reached 170 million mu (113,333.33 km
2 ). As lots of rural people
have moved to cities, the area of idle homestead land has exceeded 30 million mu
(20,000 km
2 ), which is equivalent to the entire urban residential space. Home prices
are rather high in Chinese cities. For example, Shenzhen has a whopping price-toincome ratio of about 25, meaning that on average, it takes twenty-five years of
household income to purchase an apartment in the city. Among the many reasons for
the hike in home prices is insufficient supply of urban residential land.
To sum up, China’s spatial structure needs to be optimized.
8 Development Intensity
Development intensity refers to the proportion of construction space in the total area
in a specific space.
The overall development intensity in China is 4%. Given that 60% of China’s land
area is not suitable for development, this rate is not as low as it seems. In particular,
the development intensity of plains is too high.
265
The first is urban space, which includes urban construction space such as that
within the Fifth Ring Road of Beijing. Urban space also includes industrial and
mining space outside urban residential areas, such as coal mines.
The second is agricultural space, which consists of agricultural production space
and rural residential space.
The third is ecological space, which includes not only green ecological space
such as natural grasslands, woodlands, wetlands, reservoirs, rivers, and lakes but
also non-green space such as heathland, sandy land, saline-alkali land, and plateau
deserts. Although the latter may be of little use for humans at the moment, they are
an integral part of nature and need to be well protected.
The fourth include miscellaneous space, such as transportation infrastructure
space for railways, roads, civil airports, ports and docks, and pipelines, space for
water conservancy facilities, and special space for national defence, religious, and
other purposes.
There are multiple imbalances in China’s spatial structure.
First, compared with the vast production space, ecological space is disproportionately small, unable to meet the needs of 1.4 billion Chinese people for ecological
goods. For instance, the forest coverage in Japan is around 70%, while it is only
slightly higher than 20% in China.
Second, there is much more industrial space than urban residential space.
Currently, industrial and mining space takes up a total of about 60,000 km
2 , including
10,000 km
2 of development zones, which are mainly designed for industrial development despite the limited residential space. Industrial and mining space is too
large compared to the current industrial value added. According to our estimates,
the combined industrial space of Shanghai, Wuxi, and Suzhou exceeds the total of
Japan. Therefore, we should take solid steps to cut down on industrial space.
Lastly, rural residential space is enormous. The total area of homestead land
in China has reached 170 million mu (113,333.33 km
2 ). As lots of rural people
have moved to cities, the area of idle homestead land has exceeded 30 million mu
(20,000 km
2 ), which is equivalent to the entire urban residential space. Home prices
are rather high in Chinese cities. For example, Shenzhen has a whopping price-toincome ratio of about 25, meaning that on average, it takes twenty-five years of
household income to purchase an apartment in the city. Among the many reasons for
the hike in home prices is insufficient supply of urban residential land.
To sum up, China’s spatial structure needs to be optimized.
8 Development Intensity
Development intensity refers to the proportion of construction space in the total area
in a specific space.
The overall development intensity in China is 4%. Given that 60% of China’s land
area is not suitable for development, this rate is not as low as it seems. In particular,
the development intensity of plains is too high.