Industrial Ecology Self-Organization System and Its Adaptation in Chinese Urbanism

Introduction

Chinese urbanism developing along the mega water infrastructure has several cases in different regions. The latest urban development in China, the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), is one of the most significant urban development projects. The Yangtze River Delta, which hubs around Shanghai, provides international commercial opportunities and is an effective mechanism for China's economy. In 2010, China's State Council approved a plan to make the Yangtze River Delta region a robust economic center and transform the area into a world-class city cluster by 2030. The “Outline for the Development of Regional Integration in the Yangtze River Delta” was released in 2019, where “dual circulation” economic model planning for YRD was proposed. As the inner city within the hub, Shanghai's economy will play the leading role, with the external cities keeping their financial supplement. As demonstrated in the initiative planning, this inter-connected cooperation between the cities along the YRD aims to bring much competitive development to China.

Since the start of the 21st century, Chinese cities, especially in the Pearl River Delta, have seen enormous development under globalization and the consequent ecological, socio-economic, and political changes (Yan, Jia, Li & Weng, 2002). This 'high-speed urbanization' (Ipsen, 2005) results from various factors, e.g., reorganizing the administrative and institutional system and new modes of production, employment, and investment. These processes lead to fundamental transformations in the urban structures with massive growth and vigorous concentrations of population, infrastructure, and economic and political power. The growth in these cities is also characterized by an increasing loss of control and unregulated, informal processes. These complex relations and connections influence the new-urban areas' spatial, social, and ecological development.

The establishment of non-agricultural activities, such as trading, transportation, and industry in areas that have previously been mainly agricultural, has directly impacted urbanization. As a result, the rapid industrialization and the lack of a vital supporting infrastructure gave rise to the contamination of the environment from a number of perspectives. It has given rise to a unique characteristic of spatial discontinuity. The contaminated sites support lower-income local workers, thereby causing differentiation in society manifested in socially/physically isolated urban settlements.

The application of eco-industrial development has attracted increasing attention globally, leading to various implementation strategies of eco-industrial development, including eco-industrial parks and industrial symbiosis. The success of the Industrial Ecology concept in developed countries in Europe and the States provoked industrialization in third-world countries. Industrial Ecology should be applied in industrialized urban areas of the developing regions as a resolution toward its modern development. Moreover, it will bring genuine programmatic interaction between public entities such as industry, housing, agriculture, public open space, and the potential for mutual benefit to the city. It is important to analyze the impacts of human activities on land-use change and consequent dynamics of ecosystem service value. For the sustainable development of human beings, an investigation should be conducted to explore what type of land use behavior will considerably improve human relationships with the environment. (Chen, 2019) This paper argues for the advantages of the Industrial Ecology concept as a method in an industrialized city in low-mid income regions and the spatial patterns of urban landscapes determined by Industrial Ecology, which is used to devise a sustainable integrated urban development system. Additionally, by contemplating various environmental urban theories and case studies, this paper aims to articulate appropriate measures to promote sustainable development in the latest Chinese urbanism. Furthermore, it will play a critical guideline and proper adjustment to the ecological evaluation methods in multi aspects.