The debate focused on the Chinese Eco-City of Dongtan, its ambitions and lessons it brings for more environmentally-responsible developments in Western Europe, and London in particular.

Dongtan (Image courtesy: Arup)

The debate was chaired by London’s former Deputy Mayor Nicky Gavron.

Paper 1: Dongtan (pdf)

Peter Head, Arup Director responsible for the design and delivery of this brilliantly ambitious self-sufficient city at the mouth of the Yangtse River. Dongtan will house 50,000 people by 2010. Peter outlined the challenges.

Paper 2:

John Hopkins, Director at LDA Design, a broadly-based environmental, planning, urban design and landscape architecture practice. John has carried out extensive studies of the Thames Gateway area and he reviewed the opportunities for the Thames Gateway in this debate.

Paper 3:

Michael Brown, Deputy Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Building and Director of International Policy & External Relations. The CIOB has a 6-year co-operation programme with the Chinese Department of Education Personnel & Labour at the Ministry of Construction.

Notes from the debate