Innovation in constructing energy-saving buildings is crucial to
China's sustainable development, foreign and domestic energy
experts said on Friday.
Experts came to the consensus at the international forum on
"Innovation for Sustainable Development" at Shanghai Tongji
University.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and United Nations'
Environment Program (UNEP) Executive Director, said Asian countries
especially China are growing at a fast and unprecedented scale.
Steiner said China's building space will increase by 2 billion
square meters every year, and that more energy efficient building
solutions were needed, as a UNEP report revealed.
"A lot of 'urban dreams' in the 20th century are proven to be
'urban traps' now, although many of such dreams were implemented
into reality out of the best intention from the urban policy makers
and architects," Steiner said.
Steiner said Chinese architects play an important role in
sustainable growth, and that they need to avoid falling into those
"urban traps".
Wan Gang, minister of science and technology and president of
Tongji University, said China faces the pressure of a huge
population and limited resources, and needs innovative
technological talent, especially architects to find solutions.
(China Daily May 19, 2007)
