Green City

With a continuously expanding economy and fast evolving science and technologies, Shenzhen is upgrading its industries to promote an environment-friendly lifestyle and low-carbon growth. The high-quality, optimally structured and low-energy consuming development mode has become the city’s new normal.

Shenzhen has persisted in improving the quality of its urban environment. It has pushed ahead with the comprehensive management of 1,500 urban villages and carried out a natural gas pipeline project for households. The city has renovated the fences of construction sites across the city as well as built and upgraded more than 2,200 public toilets. A number of high-quality parks have been built, such as Shenzhen Talent Park, Xiangmi Park and the western coastal leisure belt of Shenzhen Bay. A total of 69 parks were built or renovated and 222 flower-dotted blocks and gardens were built on the streets. Shenzhen has also witnessed new achievements in the construction of a world-famous flower city and the cleanest city in the country. It has won the title of National Forest City.

Forests cover 41.2 percent of the city’s total land. The average annual concentration of PM2.5 in the city is 24 micrograms per cubic meter, making Shenzhen one of the 10 cities in the country with the best air quality. The Inner Lingding Island-Futian National Nature Reserve is the only and the smallest nature reserve within urban areas in China. “Shenzhen blue”and “Shenzhen green”have become two calling cards of the city.

By the end of 2019, the number of parks in Shenzhen (excluding Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone) had reached 1,090. Shenzhen has thus achieved its goal of building“a city of 1,000 parks”one year ahead of schedule. Among these parks, 33 are natural parks, 152 are city parks and 905 are community parks. The coverage of the service radius of parks and green lands has reached 90.87 percent. Lianhua Hill Park, Shenzhen Bay Park and Shenzhen Talent Park are some of the most popular parks among citizens. The city has also initiated a plan on building walking and biking tracks in city suburbs with 60 kilometers of greenways and 300 kilometers of biking trails built or renovated in 2019. Shenzhen is the first city in Asia to have won the UIA Sir Patrick Abercrombie Prize for Town Planning or Territorial Development, and has bagged home a United Nations Environment Program Global 500 Award. It has also won titles such as National Forest City, Nations in Bloom, National Hygienic City, National Model City of Environmental Protection, National Model City of Urban Greening and National Outstanding Tourist City.

Pollution Treatment

Historic breakthroughs have been made in water pollution treatment. Rainwater and sewage diversion projects across the city have been basically completed, and the network of sewage pipes now covers the whole city. Together with the construction, renovation and expansion of 23 water purification plants, Shenzhen is now capable of collecting and treating almost all sewage generated in the city. The quality of water in five major local rivers, including once stinky Maozhou River and Shenzhen River, now meets the Grade V standard of surface water, and fish can now be seen in rivers including Dasha River, Pingshan River and Longgang River.

Efforts have also been made to further improve the city’s air quality. Vehicle fuel of a higher standard is being promoted, with around 70,000 new-energy vehicles and 3,200 all-electric dump truck added and 70,000 old cars eliminated. All gas-fired power plants have been upgraded to cut nitrogen and nitrous oxide emission, and the use of shore power by vessels tops all Chinese cities. The implementation of garbage classification has been promoted with the reuse rate now exceeding 30 percent. Three energy eco-parks have been put into operation with an additional waste incineration capacity of 11,000 tons per day, offering an effective solution to waste handling.