2.What two (or more) quotes capture the message of the article?
“ Even as Beijing scrambles to pave new roads to sustain a growing automotive yen – 1,000 new cars hit the streets daily – congestion continues to grow. And for the millions of commuters who rely on a highly-burdened subway and bus system, just getting to work can mean a daily struggle against cars, crowds and carcinogens. ”
“Experts agree that the deeper problem for a mega-city like Beijing has more to do with where precisely those new roads go – or why they exist at all. Instead of adding a subway line that connects a residential area on the edge of the city to a business district in the center, Yang says the city ought to explore plans that narrow the distance between workplace and home, perhaps eliminating the need for a commute altogether. “We need to learn how making the city more compact,” says Yang, who stresses that Beijing’s planning bureaus need to focus less on building and more on training and collaboration.”
3.What is the main point of the article, and how is it supported?
1) Beijing has been developing public transportation before the Olympic game. However, the transportation crisis after the Olympic game is still a concern for Chinese government. Adding roads, subway lines and other transportation routes will occupy land used for housing, business or for walking and cycling. To sum up, public transportation needs to be the center of future development in the city, not the other way around.
2)
The author cites a sentence from the mayor of Beijing in 2004, “The contradiction between real estate development and traffic regulations is the biggest problem now facing Beijing.”
Beijing slipped 10 notches to number 14 in a recent quality of life ranking of Chinese cities, and bad transportation beat pollution as the biggest complaint among Beijing citizens.
Surprisingly, Beijing expected to spend between 200-250 billion yuan on transportation improvement, which is 17 times the budget for sporting venues. The author has given an accomplishment for the planners had promised the special car lanes and vehicle bans around venues to tame the traffic.
The author compared Beijing with Huston, which is also a growing succession of ring roads with suburb outside.
The author does mention that the Chinese municipal government announced it would focus on developing tree public transportation centered towns to the east, thus, Chinese government is seeking for advices and methods to solve the traffic problems in the future.
Professor Song also states in the article cited by the author that, developing business and residential areas around bus and subway station would not only reduce the need for cars, but would disperse the city’s activity out from the traditional city center to a constellation of different centers. Moreover, a cleaner bus system and subways with better air-conditioning systems can also make people giving up driving.
4.What actors (individuals or organizations) are referred to? (Provide names and short descriptions.)
Wang Qishan, the mayor of Beijing, he concurrently serves as Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and has emerged as the public face of President Xi’s anti-corruption campaign since 2013.
Yan Song, an urban planning professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
5.What kind of causation or responsibility is argued or implied in the article?
Although building and improving traffic system to fit for Olympic game is urgent at the time the article is written, Chinese government should also consider the aftermath caused by the increasing of traffic. Solutions and regulations regarding those consequences should be stated prior.
6.How (if at all) are health disparities or other equity issues addressed in the article or report?
For pedestrians in a city of gargantuan roads and surging numbers of cars, inaccessibility isn’t just physical – it may affect the government’s plans for a “harmonious society”. In addition, serious public transit upgrades may require heavy investments from the private sector, or even a complete privatization of the transit system.
7.What three points, details or references from the article did you follow up on to advance your understanding of the issued and actors described in the article?
Chinese government does have to power to clean the air and building a transportation system in a short amount of time, thus, if the government is really determined to improve the traffic issue in Beijing, it will be successful.
Reducing the traffic tension is never a easy thing in China due to its large population. Much more money is required to improve just a little, but it is better than nothing.
More advices from western societies are wanted, scholars with high education in civil engineering or city design are asked earnestly.
- 1. Full citation and link.
Alex Pasternack, Beijing’s Olympic-sized Traffic Problem, 2007.https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/654-Beijing-s-Olympic-sized-traffic-problem
- 3. What is the main point of the article, and how is it supported?
1)Beijing has been developing public transportation before the Olympic game. However, the transportation crisis after the Olympic game is still a concern for Chinese government. Adding roads, subway lines and other transportation routes will occupy land used for housing, business or for walking and cycling. To sum up, public transportation needs to be the center of future development in the city, not the other way around.
2)
- 5. What kind of causation or responsibility is argued or implied in the article?
Although building and improving traffic system to fit for Olympic game is urgent at the time the article is written, Chinese government should also consider the aftermath caused by the increasing of traffic. Solutions and regulations regarding those consequences should be stated prior.- 6. How (if at all) are health disparities or other equity issues addressed in the article or report?
For pedestrians in a city of gargantuan roads and surging numbers of cars, inaccessibility isn’t just physical – it may affect the government’s plans for a “harmonious society”. In addition, serious public transit upgrades may require heavy investments from the private sector, or even a complete privatization of the transit system.