MegaCities - Shanghai

The model is one of the world’s biggest, like so much in this city of superlatives. Thousands of high-rise buildings built to a scale of 1:500 spread over more than 600 m² in Shanghai’s exhibition and planning center. The buildings that have already been built are rendered in detail, while those still being planned are only plain white blocks. Strings of lights representing streets snake through a forest of towers on the drawing board. There is activity almost everywhere. Dilapidated buildings are making way for spacious parks, while entire city districts are beginning to take shape. Qiu Xing Ao, director of the exhibition center, says officials recently added an area on the banks of the Huangpu River to the model. The site will accommodate Expo 2010, which Shanghai’s city leaders expect to attract 70 million visitors. And Qiu’s staff will soon have to make further alterations, because the National People’s Congress discussed city development plans in January.

By 2020, Shanghai plans to have about 16 subway lines that will include 540&nbsü;km of tracks. They will help to handle the city’s rapidly growing transportation needs. Today, by contrast, Shanghai has only one light rail and two subway lines—hardly sufficient for a city with a population that’s expected to reach 20 million by the end of the next decade. That’s about five to six million more than today.

The numbers create a predicament for officials. Although the city wants to attract talented young people and foreign companies, there are concerns about a potential collapse caused by excessive immigration. By 2020, traffic planners expect the number of vehicles in Shanghai to at least double to about 2.5 million. In the face of such growth, the city’s planned rail transit network will be expected to handle nearly one-fourth of public transportation. The alternative would be virtually endless traffic jams. Even today, the average speed of vehicles is only 12 km/h—in spite of multilevel freeways and a 40 % expansion of the street network since the 1990s.

 World’s Tallest Hotel. "Anybody who saw Shanghai 20 years ago wouldn’t recognize it today," says Qiu Xing Ao. Back then, hardly any of the city’s buildings were taller than 18 stories. Today there are 5,000 such buildings. Many are located in the section of the city called Pudong, a site that was covered by swampy fields and farmhouses before being declared an economic-development area in 1990. Today, the area’s skyline is dominated by sites such as the Jin Mao Building, which has the world’s tallest hotel—the Grand Hyatt, with its front desk on the 54th floor and a bar on the 87th. Right next door, work is nearing completion on the 500-m-high Mori Tower, the World Financial Center.

But there is something that is even more impressive than the construction sites that dot the city’s model. On the outskirts, but still within the city’s 6,340-km² metropolitan area, officials are planning to build not only the world’s biggest deep-sea container harbor and a 31-km bridge that will connect it to the mainland, but also a series of 11 satellite cities.

On the other side of Shanghai, a similar-sized urban center that will be known as the Automobile City is being built around VW’s Anting plant. The city was planned by Albert Speer & Partners, an architectural firm based in Frankfurt. In a record time of only 18 months a number of facilities were built, including a Formula 1 race track where Michael Schumacher and others will compete for world championship points in September 2004. Given the qualities of such satellite communities, Shanghai’s city planners bring up other superlatives almost in passing. The Pudong Airport, for instance, is to become the biggest hub for passengers and freight in China by 2010. Officials are also planning a huge Medical Zone, where the best hospitals, as well as research and production facilities, will be located.

Siemens Inside. Siemens is involved in nearly all of these projects in one way or another. At Pudong Airport, for example, with building-automation and alarm equipment, information systems, control systems for baggage transfer and energy-supply facilities. In skyscrapers like the Jin Mao Building, where Siemens installed state-of-the-art security systems. And in medical facilities like Huadong Hospital, one of the leading clinics in Shanghai with 800 beds and many VIP patients. Its director, Prof. Wang Chuan-Fu, says the hospital has had excellent relations with Siemens since 1972. "Nearly all of the high-tech equipment, including the computer and magnetic-resonance tomographs and the accelerators for nuclear medicine, came from Siemens," he said.

Similar praise is expressed by Feng Weizhong, the head of technology at the new coal-fired power plant in Waigaoqiao. "We were looking for the world’s best turbines and generators, and selected Siemens," he explained. Two 900-MW units will go online this year at the plant, which is located on the Yangtse River. An additional 900-MW unit will follow in three to four years. "These will be China’s biggest coal-fired plants, and their efficiency level of 42 %, and perhaps even 45 % in the future, makes them the most efficient plants of their kind," he says. Given the enormous demand for electricity in Shanghai, a new plant was desperately needed—during the hot summer months, companies have faced electricity rationing. After much discussion, Shanghai decided to build a plant that uses Chinese coal. At the same time, it made a commitment to technology that would limit emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide. "You won’t see any particulate clouds billowing from our smoke-stacks," Feng says.

Right next to the power plant, one of China’s biggest waste-water treatment facilities is being built with control technology from Siemens. "It will be able to treat 1.7 million tons of waste water daily," says Dr. Zhigang Jin, head of the operating company. The new facility will be about 40 times more effective than any of the 30 waste-water treatment facilities currently scattered around the city. "Shanghai produces 5.8 million tons of waste water every day," says Jin. "That’s more than the current plants can handle." But that isn’t even the main problem. "Many of our pipes are old and leak, which meant until quite recently that huge amounts of untreated waste flowed into the city’s canals." But now, thanks to the construction of several sewage treatment plants on the Yangtse, Suzhou Creek, one of the most famous Huangpu branches, no longer sends foul-smelling sewage rushing into the Huangpu. "Our biggest challenge at the moment is to direct as much of the city’s waste water as possible to the new treatment plants," says Jin. The government expects that by 2005, about 90 % of sewage will be treated.

High-Speed Shanghai. Siemens is also playing an important role in Shanghai’s transportation picture. The company is supplying 28 subway trains for the newest metro line and is a consortium partner for the Transrapid, the magnetic levitation train that can travel up to 430 km/h and cover the 33-km stretch from Pudong Airport to Longyang Station in less than eight minutes (see Pictures of the Future, Spring 2003, Only Flying Is Faster). Although full commercial operations are only just about to begin, almost four-hundred thousand passengers have already enjoyed the sensation of "flying at zero altitude" on the train. "I’m certain that in the course of the next few months a decision will be made to extend Transrapid service to the Expo site and possibly to other large neighboring cities like Hangzhou," says Gerhard Wahl, who oversees all Transrapid projects as the representative of Group Executive Management at Siemens Transportation Systems. "These long stretches would bring out the Transrapid’s real usefulness—and show how competitive its costs can be"

Besides the Transrapid, Siemens is also at the forefront of many other projects, including the TD-SCDMA cell-phone standard. This standard, worked out in cooperation with the China Academy of Telecommunications Technology, enables the frequency spectrum to be used in a particularly efficient way. One of China’s cell-phone operators will most likely use the standard in future multimedia cell phones as well as the W-CDMA standard (or UMTS), for which Siemens is conducting test operations in Shanghai at the moment.

Pioneering work in this city is nothing new for Siemens. Back in 1879, the company provided the Shanghai harbor with its first electric lighting, which, in fact, involved the installation of the first electrical generator in the country. In 1904, Siemens opened its first office in Shanghai. Today, the company has 12,000 employees in the "city above the sea"—the literal translation of "Shanghai." "These are 100 years that prove both our commitment to this fascinating city and our readiness for a long, productive partnership," says Peter Borger, head of Siemens in Shanghai, looking back over Siemens’ relationship with China.

Ulrich Eberl

Zhang Ao: Our biggest challenge is definitely a growth rate that won’t let you catch your breath. But the goals set by the city Government are clear. We want to use advanced technologies to achieve harmonious and sustainable development. We want to create a city where people like to live and work. It’s just as our slogan for Expo 2010 says: "Better city, better life."

How do you put together your studies of the future?

Zhang Ao: The process is much like the one used at Siemens for Pictures of the Future, which we got to know during a visit to Munich. Many specialists from government agencies, universities, research institutes and industrial companies are working on our Picture of the Future for Shanghai. We have formed several working groups that focus on such areas as information and communications, new materials, medical technology and health care, and smart transportation systems. We also have a team that is comparing technological developments with social needs.

Which questions interest you the most in this work?

Zhang Ao: One of the key questions is: How can technical advances improve the quality of life in Shanghai? In the area of energy, we want to determine how we can supply Shanghai with power in a way that is reliable and will conserve resources 20 years from now. In the area of environmental protection, the focus is on the city’s green areas, waste-water treatment and waste processing. In the area of transportation, we are trying to maintain mobility even as the numbers of people and vehicles rise. Overall, we want to create a comprehensive form of city management by employing the concept of the digital city.

What, in your opinion, does "digital city" mean?

Zhang Ao: It involves information and communications technologies that will make living and working in the city as pleasant as possible — from e-government to smart transportation systems and medical care at home. The last point is particularly important because the number of people older than 60 is rising rapidly in Shanghai. Today, they already account for ten percent of the population, and this number is set to double in about fifteen years. Considering this, a particularly important question is how to use new technologies to improve care for the elderly. This includes medical treatment as well as things like automated household appliances that are easy to operate for seniors. We are also thinking about young people. We want to ensure that they not only get a good education and pass their tests, but also tap their innovative potential in a better way, develop new ideas and further their practical skills.

How can companies like Siemens help Shanghai in all of these areas?

Zhang Ao: We are particularly interested in learning from Siemens’ broad and global experience. That includes discussions with experts and a possible partnership on the creation of a Picture of the Future for Shanghai. With just a few special exceptions, Siemens offers such a variety of services that we can cover all of the important areas for Shanghai in a collaborative arrangement. I’m convinced that both Siemens and Shanghai will profit tremendously from a long-term and fruitful partnership.

Interview conducted by Ulrich Eberl