China's Mudflat Futurism

[Image: Construction in Beijing, by Sze Tsung Leong; read more about his work here].

"The bleak wetlands of Dongtan seem an unlikely place for a neo-industrial revolution," The Guardian reports from the mouth of the Yangtse River, China, "but if the project being planned for its muddy shores is successful, it could arguably change the course of global economic development."
That project is "nothing less than a new city," one that "does no appreciable damage to the earth's environment."
Known simply as Dongtan, the city will be part of a much larger, "futuristic plan to develop thousands of square miles of the mouth of the Yangtse."
New forms of international construction finance have been put to use, and sustainable building technologies never before seen on this scale are all part of the plan. "This is the biggest single development anywhere in the world, bigger even than the Beijing Olympics" – not to mention something of an embarrassment for the U.S. rebuilding of New Orleans.
To help me avoid quoting the whole article, however, go see for yourself; and more can be found at the site of Arup, Dongtan's engineers.

(Spotted at Archinect – though BLDGBLOG has reported on Dongtan before: that post includes a look at other Chinese infrastructural projects, and is worth a quick read).