Unfortunately,

"Cowboy Capitalism" is where it's at, Peter, and there is not much we can do about it, esp since our homegrown cowboys rule the roost here too, employing their less obvious (to most people) versions of "command and control" gov't.

We haven't diverted an inch off of our long-followed path of exploiting our resources til they're exhausted. And so just as China and India's day will come when there's no more resources left to buy, ours will come at roughly the same time, when we've none left to sell.

Sustainability? Why that must be just for the people, since it doesn't compute at all for the get-rich-quick boys.

And while the developing world is tooling up to produce CO2 by the gigaton, we diddle around with illusions like carbon taxes and carbon trades, Judas-goats designed to divert us away from government investment in low-profit but genuinely sustainable and environmentally sound energy projects like solar, tidal, and geothermml.

"Run 'er 'til she breaks" boys" is what they're selling us, and it appears most of us are still buying in.

Probably already out of date

Dongtan.

Ever heard of it?

http://www.arup.com/eastasia/project.cfm?pageid=7047

China moves ahead; quickly.

This is true:
"The difference may lie in how long it takes to get things done. In Vancouver, change takes time; democracy must have its due.".

Meanwhile, in Vancouver, one of the biggest studies next year will be the question of a bike lane on a bridge.

Two different worlds

It's almost impossible to compare the economic and urban developments of any Chinese city to Vancouver. The priorities, culture and historical contexts are so vastly different that's it's like passing through a looking glass.

Shanghai builds the equivalent of Vancouver's Skytrain line and all of Vancouver's buildings including the Olympics in an average year. Urban development is ceaseless because a high rate of urbanization- moving peasants from the countryside into the city is a key part of their economic plan. Over the last 15 years, China's development has simply been incredible lifting many out of poverty, creating a middle class which has altered the political landscape and world economics. While Vancouver city council wastes time debating about bike lanes on a bridge, Chinese officials are building a nation and rush towards what they believe is their global destiny.

Yes, there is a democracy of sorts in China when it comes to urban development. The PRC govt is not a monolith, but comprised of competing interests from developers, govt officials and local residents. Vancouver has the intellectual luxury of wasting time on petty special interest groups whose narrow interests are largely irrelevant and parochial- like bicyclers on the Burrard Bridge. That everyone must and can be accommodated is conceited and foolhardy. But, that's part of the thinly veiled arrogance of Vancouver culture.

It is called freedom, B. Peru

"That everyone must and can be accommodated is conceited and foolhardy."

This is what freedom is all about. The right not to be steamrollered by powerful minorities. If you want the sort of fascism they have in China, move there!

China Is a Paper Tiger

China could blow apart and its "miracle" disintegrate, should the economic crisis prove to be as major as many think. The collapse of China would be a very good thing for the rest of us, as we could restore our industrial bases and get rid of this ghastly Walmart mentality. China in crisis could see a resurgence of the left in a Third Revolution and that would sure shake up the megalomaniacs and psychopaths controlling the corporate system, wouldn't it?.

Democracy must have its due....

The heart and soul of most communities - the very centre of a green sustainable life - are our small businesses.

The powers that be, in their race to pave over our entire region, have paved over our rights as citizens as well.

What was democratic about the Canada Line snow job that has burried the life savings of hundreds of family run small businesses?

Some have gone for good - some are still struggling to survive with no financial aid of any kind, all the while contributing more to our economy than any other sector.

Gosh - we didn't even get one of those Gold Medals.....

Our own government has turned the same blind eye to the victims of Canada Line, that the relentless builders in China did, and there is no excuse for this negligence.

All parties have heard from us for four years this January - four years since we were all sucker-punched and left to die by the roadside.
We seek a fair resolution to this crisis.
The government and all their partners massed a legal army to fight us in court, instead of doing the right thing.

It's May Day for this Liberal Cabal.

Perhaps someone will recognize that the only win is to settle this out of court -
IMMEDIATELY.

Sprawl?

I have to take issue with some of the things in this article.

Why is massive urbanization a bad thing? Housing large numbers of people in dense urban developments is surely better than sprawl.

I'm not sure I understand his definition of sprawl. "new suburbs thick with 30-story towers prove that sprawl can happen at any density". Is there a better way of housing millions of people? Is he saying that they should be 60 stories high?

I'm not saying China is developing in a sustainable way I am just questioning some of the arguments used here.

Wrong comparison

I wouldn't compare the forecast for China's economic growth with that for BC. Yes, less than 10% seems spectacular compared with less than 1%. But given the international financial meltdown, that's like the difference between hitting a brick wall at 100 kph and hitting it at 10 kph.

China depends on a steadily growing stream of exports, especially to the US, and as that stream dries up, factories close, and workers are thrown out on the street, their capitalist fling could turn very ugly. In the short term, their economic unsustainability might well trump their environmental unsustainability.

China's concrete dragon

One of the things that hasn't been directly commented on in this article, is that, because of the continous loss of agriculture, China is now looking abroad to produce its own food. Rather than depending on its own production and out-of-country imports, China is now leasing or buying up land in other countries. A recent article from the Chicago Tribune gives us this tidbit:

"... China, which already farms more than 100 thousand acres of farmland in Australia, is buying or leasing huge swaths of farmland in the Philippines, Laos, Cameroon, Uganda and other countries."

As an aside, you may be interested to know that all of the Middle East countries, particularly those rich in oil resources, are doing the same thing.

Pink flamingos

Nearly 1.4 billion in China -- the most populated nation on the planet. Yet, on a per capita basis, their consumption falls well short of Canadians and Americans. They are catching up to our level of development rapidly using many of the same means of getting to where we are today (beginning with the start of the Industrial Rev).
Taking into account that much of the energy that is required to produce OUR consumption habits (like pink flamingos and the like), their per capita consumption is WAY lower. It takes power to fuel our manufacturing abroad!
Instead of continuously pointing the finger at China, we have to set the example as global leaders (despite our tiny 33 million pop) with concrete policies and regulations that promote smarter and less wasteful consumption at home. Eating local is great! Consuming local is the next step. Hopefully, the likes of Geoff Meggs, a pro-development (?) Vancouver Councillor, will focus on Vancouver's devourings.