Sweco participates in developing eco-city in China

A new city with an ecological profile will be developed in the Tangshan region approximately 250 kilometres east of Beijing. Sweco is engaged for a series of efforts to ensure that environmental aspects are taken into consideration. Around one million people are expected to live in the eco-city in the future.

”China is in great need of new cities that can relieve the pressure on the country’s congested and polluted mega-cities. Sweco has worked in the country over the last eight years and has developed a number of cities and communities with ecological profiles, but this is the largest assignment so far,” says Eva Nygren, Managing Director for Sweco Sweden.

The new city will consist of 150 square kilometres with an initial stage that will have a scope of 30 square kilometres. A deep-water port and industrial area are also being planned in conjunction with the city. Sweco shall formulate a sustainable strategy based on the planning proposals that exist for the initial stage of the city. The goal is to integrate the proposals and ensure that the various environmental aspects are taken into consideration.
”A major challenge with this project is to find solutions to tie the long-term planning of the entire region together with the construction of the initial stage of the city, which will be completed in 2020. An important goal in all the planning is to find integrated solutions for energy and the environment that reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses, and through that, global warming,” says Ulf Ranhagen, senior architect at Sweco and professor at KTH (Royal Institute of Technology), who is project manager for the assignment.

Within this area, Sweco shall also plan an exhibition building for sustainable development, which will be used to market Swedish environmental technology. The assignment is being carried out for the Administrative Committee of Tangshan Caofeidian Industry Zone.

The assignment is part of the letter of intent that was signed between the Chinese city, Tangshan, and Sweden during Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt’s visit to China in April. The assignment shall be structured so that Swedish environmental technology companies are given good opportunities to participate in the design and construction of the city and the region. So far, Sweco has signed a contract for the assignment valued at SEK 10 million.