SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the if-we-build-it-with-bike-paths-they-will-be-forced-to-come dept.
NewsChina http://www.newschinamag.com/newschina/articleDetail.do?article_id=2719 reports on an Ambitious Plan -- the early development of a new city, about 100 km SW of Beijing that is meant to house science and research companies/universities.
It is a several part feature, other sections are:
http://www.newschinamag.com/newschina/articleDetail.do?article_id=2720
> Primary responsibility for planning the Xiongan New Area, a new megacity in Hebei province about 100 kilometers southwest of downtown Beijing, falls on the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design (CAUPD), which sits under the Ministry of Construction.
http://www.newschinamag.com/newschina/articleDetail.do?article_id=2721
> To understand the strategic importance of the plan behind setting up the Xiongan New Area, NewsChina interviewed Zhang Junkuo, Deputy Director of the Development Research Center of the State Council
http://www.newschinamag.com/newschina/articleDetail.do?article_id=2722
>A Science and Research Hub -- All eyes are on whether Beijing's science and research institutions will choose to expand or even relocate to the fields and towns of the Xiongan New Area.
http://www.newschinamag.com/newschina/articleDetail.do?article_id=2723
> Smart and Green -- Xiongan New Area is set to become a regional transport center to advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. But will it avoid the pitfalls of other large cities?
http://www.newschinamag.com/newschina/articleDetail.do?article_id=2724
> A New Model? -- In the six months that have passed since the government announced the ambitious plan to establish the Xiongan New Area 100 kilometers south of Beijing, Rongcheng, one of three counties in Hebei Province neighboring Beijing that are included in the project, has already seen some major changes.
http://www.newschinamag.com/newschina/articleDetail.do?article_id=2725
> Locals in Limbo -- Residents in the three counties that will make up Xiongan share their hopes and concerns for the future
Central planning started three days after President Zi Jinpeng proposed it to the Central Committee on March 24, 2016. In June 2017 the initial plan was completed for a 30 Km^2 area, and was opened for global bidding.
The area includes a lake (badly polluted) and fishing villages that will be relocated...not everyone is going to be a winner here.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Virindi on Tuesday November 28 2017, @01:02PM (5 children)
Or just as likely, nobody will be the winner here except politically connected developers. This type of thing is a common vehicle for graft.
There are many of these "cities of the future!!!!!!111one", both in China and elsewhere. How it works is, the central government decides it wants a big PR gain, to look hip, and to line the pockets of friends. So a bunch of dirt poor people are kicked off their property and basically told to go die, and billions are spent constructing a city before more than a vague plan exists for who will occupy it. Construction ends up shoddy but shiny, and the predictions of vast occupancy never materialize.
A perfect example of the inefficiency and graft-increasing nature of central planning.
Here's a start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_under-occupied_developments_in_China [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 28 2017, @01:43PM (3 children)
The alternative is the company town, where a bunch of dirt poor locals are promised opportunities to dig themselves out of poverty. Economic mobility is nonexistent and opportunity never materializes, while the corporation extracts profit from the poor until they die in poverty.
Isn't American capitalism great??
(Score: 2) by Virindi on Tuesday November 28 2017, @02:01PM (2 children)
Or neither?
"Company towns" of the past existed because the owners were able to create conditions which forced people to stay. These included: poor transportation options, pay in credits/fake money, poor bankruptcy protection and/or debtor's prison, public enforcement of contracts which reduce someone to servitude and cannot be canceled, etc.
These things can be easily rectified without centrally directing the development of land. In fact, dealing with each of the problems listed above is perfectly compatible with a minimalist, free market government. Implying that there are only two options is false choice.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 28 2017, @02:58PM (1 child)
Wake up and smell the tech industry. Smell the filthy crust of homelessness surrounding Silicon Valley. Smell the dirty tent cities of Amazon warehouse workers.
You're delusional if you think company towns are a thing of the past. Dude, they're bad, bro. Tech billionaires deserve to rape the economy to death. You deserve your chance to join the party, right?
Keep believing your precious free market with minimal government will propel you into the ranks of the uber rich someday, you greedy asshole.
(Score: 2) by Virindi on Tuesday November 28 2017, @04:57PM
Responding to a calm argument with heated name calling is generally not the way to convince people you are right.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday November 28 2017, @04:51PM
Yeah, this seems like a really stupid idea. There's nothing wrong with the government wanting to spur science and research, but why would you build an all-new city out in the boonies for this? Just push for redevelopment in a sector of an existing city where people already live, and more people would like to move to.
We see this here in America with tech jobs: companies locate in existing sizeable cities where there's already people with expertise to hire, and stuff to do and places to live and an existing economy, and it works out well. But some stupid companies try to locate in crappy towns in the sticks to save money, and there's no one who already lives there able to do the work, and no one who can really wants to move there, so you constantly see these lame companies advertising the same jobs for years on end in the job listings.
This kind of thing only works when the government really wants the research to be done in an isolated place, and is willing to pour a shit-ton of money into the project. We saw this here in the US with Oak Ridge and Los Alamos, but those were military in nature, and that was a time when all the best tech jobs were with the government (in the defense sector) and its contractors, unlike now. I'm sure the USSR did a bunch of similar stuff, but that country didn't even have a market economy so they were able to push people to move to shitty government-built cities in the sticks.