Sustainability features in Pudong, Shanghai, China

Pudong, with an area 
of 533.44 km2, is located 
on the east bank of the Huangpu
River that runs through 
Shanghai. Shanghai‚Äôs 
population is 13.3 million, of

which Pudong is home to 
1.68 million people. 
The development objective of Pudong was to create a 
‚Äòmulti-functional, export-oriented and cosmopolitanized
new urban area of Shanghai‚Äô (PNAA, 2000). 
The complete redevelopment of the Pudong area, including
infrastructure installation, had a significant focus on transportation 
to and from the wider Shanghai area (Zhao et al., 2003).
Sustainability features
While much of Pudong‚Äôs development is far from 
sustainable  (it has included the displacement of local 
communities, and aggressive  urban growth with 
unsustainable buildings), the transportation system
 is leading edge, and well worthy of note. 
The development includes the Pudong International 
Airport, the Pudong International Deep Water Harbour, 
a light transit railway, a river crossing  project which
 includes the automated Lujiazui Pedestrian Tunnel 
carrying people between Pudong and West Shanghai.
It also includes the Maglev,  the world‚Äôs first 
commercial magnetic elevated railway which uses
highly efficient electromagnetic systems forces to
uplift trains and propel them. 
Built from German technology at a cost of $1.2 
billion, the Maglev train ) links the new Shanghai 
Pudong International airport to the centre of Pudong. 
The system has a length of about 30 kilometres with
 a maximum speed of about 440 km/hr. 
It takes about 8 minutes to go from one end to the
other, making it the  fastest urban transit system in the world.