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Pollution control, industrial restructuring, balanced regional development and advanced technologies - these are a few of the ways to establish a "smart city", a French official said on Tuesday.
"Pollution is the greatest problem, impacting not only the health of all residents in the city, but also the city's economic environment," said Patrick Devedjian, president of the General Council of the French department of Hauts-de-Seine. "We need to take measures to contain carbon emissions."
He suggested that large factories, as heavy polluters, be transferred to under-populated areas, which is "opposite to what people used to do throughout history".
This process will be costly, but "we have to do it now, for it will cost even more if we start later", he said.
Advanced public transportation with clean energy and eco-friendly facilities is one solution, he said.
"The reason why many people choose to drive their own cars now instead of taking public transportation is that the public transportation is not yet convenient enough."
As the former rotating chairman of the World Business District Network, Devedjian said there is something in common between building a smart city and planning a business district.
He noted that when French people were building La Defense, the world's first area with the concept of "business district", the plan was fascinating, featuring many skyscrapers and separated transportation systems where pedestrians walk above the ground and all vehicles go underground.
But the plan turned out to be too idealistic and Utopian, he said. "The walkers on the upper level felt good, while those people underground were not as comfortable."
Another solution is to combine urbanization and "suburbanization", he added, because "smart city also means smart countryside".
There was a "balanced city" model in France some 60 years ago, under which a dozen relatively large cities across the country developed in a balanced way.
The plan was successful back then but today they all have grown into megacities with problems such as pollution and highly concentrated populations. "The cities have developed with the cost of interests of the suburban areas," Devedjian said.
He suggested that population and industries in those megacities be transferred to the surrounding countryside.
In addition, science and technologies are tools to build smart cities. "With the help of high technology, decision-makers can understand better what the people need," he said.
zhangzhao@chinadaily.com.cn
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