Abstract
After the announcement that Beijing would be the host city for the Olympic Games, it was decided that some watersides in Beijing would be reconstructed. In this paper, the background of this restoration is considered from the viewpoint of historical urban planning with a focus on water resources. For more than four thousand years, China has struggled with problems related to water resources. Every emperor of the Chinese dynasties, including the Tang and Yuan dynasties, made efforts to construct water networks to maintain their strong positions. The basic structure of Beijing dates back to the Yuan dynasty era at which time many watersides were built that were connected to each other. Beijing was literally a city of ‘water and greenery'. However, since the late 20th century, as a result of high economic growth, many watersides have been either destroyed or covered by facilities.
Recently, like other countries in the world, China is attempting to achieve ‘sustainable development'. Although pollution is still a very serious problem, China is attempting to make ecologically sound water resources construction decisions. The abovementioned waterside restoration project is considered to be one of these construction programs. However, the shortage of water resources and the problem of water pollution in Beijing present a very grave situation. At the present time, a major project that will transfer water from the Yangze River to the Beijing area is under construction.
We conducted a survey of people in Beijing to evaluate three watersides in Beijing. The results of this survey revealed that most people at the waterside place a high value on the principles of restoration or improvement of watersides by the Beijing city government. This result came as a surprise to us, because in our previous study which was conducted in Japan, a majority of the people gave a low appraisal to the issue of waterside restoration.
We believe that it is vital that the Chinese government continues to maintain sustainable development. But in doing so, they should respond not only to the inhabitants of Beijing who place a high value on policies such as waterside restoration, but they should also respect the needs of the people who live in areas that are outside of Beijing.
JFL classification: H43, Q25, Q26, Q51
