Rural utopia in Beijing’s Mentougou district

Six kilometers west of Beijing, the authorities of the arid and mountainous Mentougou District (290,000 inhabitants) and the Finnish agency Eriksson Architects are openly seeking to avoid repeating the mistakes of previously “built” eco-cities in China. Those of Dongtan or Huangbaiyu have been internationally criticized for their lack of ecological understanding: hastily built on arable land, they are not so much real ecological cities, as showcases.

The Eriksson Architects project fuses eco-city and techno-polis, and is intended for 50,000 residents and workers. The city will produce its own water, and will recycle human waste to the benefit of local agriculture.