Guangzhou: Open Door policy, globalization and migration-driven urbanization in the ‘world’s workshop’ 5.5
recommends further improving Copenhagen’s quality of life, for example by enhancing its infrastructure, creating (affordable) housing options, reducing environmental pollution and strengthening a business location that is already well integrated into the global economy (OECD, 2009: 16). In particular, identifying and promoting green niche products and services gives Copenhagen a chance to retain its comparative advantages even as global competition intensifies (LSE Cities, 2014).
5.4.7 Conclusions An image as a ‘green’, pluralist and creative city is a core attribute of Copenhagen – an image that is nurtured assiduously by the local government. It is in part attributable to the city’s ambitious goals and innovative approaches to governance in all three dimensions enshrined in the WBGU’s normative compass. At the same time, top-down and bottom-up processes create a productive context that further nourishes this image. Objectives such as the goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 2025 are operationalized through legislation, planning and suitable instruments. Information brochures, websites and other tools are used to communicate these objectives to the outside world, establishing them as aspects of the city’s brand. Copenhagen’s desire to set an example for other cities is mirrored clearly in a plethora of brochures such as ‘Copenhagen – Solutions for Sustainable Cities’, which publicize the city’s proven and sustainable strategies. The latter relate not only to measures for mitigating climate change; other examples include a cycle-friendly transport policy (which also has a positive impact on CO2-reduction targets) and ambitious goals in the field of inclusion and integration policy. Ambitious targets are complemented by an approach that seeks to apply these goals to the everyday life of local residents and strives for their acceptance. Plans such as the Climate Adaptation Plan (Section 5.4.3.1) are produced in the context of public consultations and made publicly accessible in Danish and, in abridged form, in English. Every citizen or other interested party thus has the opportunity to find out what the city is doing, what its goals are, and the positive side-effects of its activities. This engenders extensive transparency and helps to cultivate an awareness of related problems and possible solutions among the people of Copenhagen. Alongside proven forms of participation, the city also experiments with innovative forms of public consultation – for example by questioning private households on the practicability of certain environment-pro-
tection measures in everyday life. Against the background of the three dimensions embodied in the normative compass –sustaining natural life-support systems, inclusion and Eigenart – in Copenhagen, it is also possible to identify potential synergies. Examples include two central pillars of the city’s urban development policy: the creation and preservation of public green areas and the promotion of walking and cycling as modes of sustainable mobility that impact positively on all three aspects of the normative compass. The openness of both Copenhagen’s local government and its population towards diversity, experiments and innovation is an element of the city’s distinctive Eigenart. At the same time, this openness creates equally ‘distinctive (eigenartig)’ places and fosters a vibrant urban lifestyle. One major positive aspect is the inclusive approach which is rooted in Copenhagen’s institutions and which, via the agency of urban development and city-district renewal in particular, is creating liveable urban spaces. Copenhagen also clearly shows that there are two sides to this coin, however. On the one hand, the city is becoming more attractive, safer and, overall, a better place to live in the districts concerned. On the other hand, long-established structures are being edged out, in some cases giving way to the commercialization of public spaces (cafes instead of park benches) and higher rents. These unintended side-effects can be observed in many large cities. Accordingly, urban-development policy – not only in Copenhagen – should develop measures that can include all groups of the population in upgrading and renewal while, at the same time, preventing excessive commercialization and the displacement of established local people.
5.5 Guangzhou: Open Door policy, globalization and migration-driven urbanization in the ‘world’s workshop’
5.5.1 Guangzhou: rapid urbanization in the wake of China’s Open Door policy The present-day megacity of Guangzhou, located 150 km north of Hong Kong in the Pearl River Delta, is one of the oldest and traditionally most important trading centres in China; it is the capital of Guangdong Province. Guangzhou was a centre of maritime trade relations with Arabia, India and South-east Asia as
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