China is building new, green cities but can’t find people to live there

 The Tianfu project was approved a year after Fan arrived, bringing an influx of government support that helped boost property prices

Just outside the southwestern city of Chengdu, China is building an urban paradise bigger than Houston. Visitors are greeted by a sea of manicured grass encircling a man-made lake, dotted with water lilies, that is almost the size of New York’s Central Park. This is Tianfu Park City, one of hundreds of “eco city” developments taking over farms and rural land in China as the government tries to accommodate the 100 million people it had planned to move from villages into urban areas by 2020. After decades of unbridled urbanization that allowed concrete high-rise suburbs to sprawl around its big cities, eating up farmland and creating pollution, China is trying to find a more sustainable way to grow and provide citizens with a better lifestyle.

“The air here is really good and wherever you go it’s green,” said a 56-year-old resident surnamed Fan, who moved to the area in 2013 when it was still a neglected suburb of Chengdu. “I don’t regret my decision at all, my apartment’s value has doubled.”The Tianfu project was approved a year after Fan arrived, bringing an influx of government support that helped boost property prices. In the first half of 2019 alone, the city signed contracts for more than 300 billion yuan ($44 billion) of investment. When major construction is completed this year, nearly 60% of the area will be dedicated to six artificial lakes, 30 parks and other green spaces. The population will be limited to 6.3 million by 2030 – a quarter of the size of China’s biggest cities, such as Shanghai…Read More