A Masterplan for China

Beginning of article

Even the process of travelling to the Masterplanning the Future conference proved to be enlightening. Taking place in October at XJTLU University in Suzhou, China, the final leg of my journey was by bullet train from west Shanghai's new Hongqiao terminus. Now Asia's largest station, this impressive piece of infrastructure was built in just two years and sits alongside an expanded regional airport to create a new transport hub. Even more remarkable is the masterplan for Hongqiao: by 2020 a new CBD the size of Glasgow will double the current population of 600,000. Departing from the UK, where sluggishness over infrastructural advance is matched by inertia in housebuilding, the contrast between East and West is striking.

Yet …