China has plans in the works to develop the largest city worldwide. The proposed ‘Turn the Pearl River Delta Into One’ master plan will merge nine cities creating a metropolis with a population of approximately 42 million people.
Integrating what is considered as China’s manufacturing heartland, public services including transportation infrastructure and healthcare would be unified allowing all residents within the river delta to utilize the resources.
150 major infrastructure projects are planned over the next six years including an express rail line that will connect with nearby Hong Kong. The projects, including energy, water, telecommunications, transport networks – some twenty-nine rail lines (over 3,100 miles) decreasing commute times, and improvements to hospitals and schools, will all help to create a 16,000 sq mile urban area. Also to be addressed are pollution problems along with petrol and electricity prices, with the anticipation of creating a united policy for the whole Peral River Delta.
“The idea is that when the cities are integrated, the residents can travel around freely and use the health care and other facilites in the different areas. It will help spread industry and jobs more evenly across the region and public services will also be distributed more fairly,” shared Ma Xiangming senior consultant of ’Turn The Pearl River Delta Into One’.
The nine cities to be incorporated into the new mega city, and together accounting for nearly a tenth of the Chinese economy, will include Shenzhen, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Jiangmen, Huizhou and Zhaoqing. Within this new mega city will be OMA’s Shenzhen Stock Exchange which is currently under construction and Zaha Hadid’s Guangzhou Opera House.
