亞穆蘇克羅市 謹防新城淪爲鬼城

Yamoussoukro in Ivory Coast is a city with roads wide enough for jumbo jets to land on, a vast presidential palace and a basilica modelled on St Peter’s in Rome. However, while it was named the nation’s capital in 1983, most commercial and administrative activities still take place in another city, Abidjan.

在科特迪瓦(Ivory Coast)的亞穆蘇克羅市(Yamoussoukro)，道路寬得可以降落大型噴氣式客機，還有一個巨大的總統府和以羅馬聖彼得大教堂爲藍本的長方形基督教堂。然而，儘管該市在1983年被定爲國家首都，但如今大部分商業與行政活動仍發生在另一座城市阿比讓(Abidjan)。

Yamoussoukro’s failure to become the country’s primary urban centre is an example of how grand plans for new cities do not always live up to expectations.

亞穆蘇克羅市未能成爲科特迪瓦的主要都市中心，是興建新城市的宏偉計劃並非總能達到預期的一個例子。

From the ghostly eco-cities of China to Malaysia, where Cyberjaya, built as the country’s version of Silicon Valley, has so far failed to thrive, there is plenty of evidence of how difficult it is to create a city from scratch.

從缺乏人氣的中國“生態城”，到馬來西亞以硅谷爲藍本建設、但至今未能蓬勃發展的賽城(Cyberjaya)，大量證據證明，從一張白紙開始興建一座城市有多麼困難。

“A lot of them are not filling in as expected,” says Sarah Moser, director of urban studies at Canada’s McGill university, who, with her students, is compiling a new cities database.

“很多新城的人氣發展不及預期，”加拿大麥吉爾大學(McGill University)城市研究主任莎拉•莫澤(Sarah Moser)說。她正跟自己的學生一起編制一個新城市數據庫。

On paper, the points for such greenfield developments are strong. Pressure is growing to house rapidly expanding urban populations, particularly in emerging economies. Policymakers in these countries have seized on building high-tech cities as a way of joining the club of wealthier nations. “Since the 1990s, and increasingly in the past 10 years, this has become a staple financial strategy for countries in the ‘global south’,” says Ms Moser. “It’s seen as a way to leapfrog the economy from the production of raw materials and manufacturing into this new, high-tech era.”

在理論上，支持這些綠地開發的理由十分充足。爲快速增長的城市人口安排住房的壓力在加大，尤其是在新興經濟體。這些國家的政策制定者把興建高科技城市作爲加入富國俱樂部的一個發力點。“自1990年代以來，尤其是在過去10年裏，這已日益成爲‘全球南方’（global south，泛指發展中國家——譯者注）國家的一項首選金融戰略，”莫澤說。“它被視爲實現經濟跳躍式發展的一條途徑，從原材料生產與加工，邁入新的高科技時代。”

As cities produce more than 70 per cent of the world’s human-generated carbon emissions, according to UN-Habitat, attempts are also being made to design “green” or “carbon-neutral” cities such as Masdar in Abu Dhabi.

聯合國人居署(UN-Habitat)數據顯示，城市在人類產生的碳排放的世界總量中佔到70%以上，因此一些國家還試圖設計“綠色”或“碳中性”城市，比如阿布扎比的馬斯達爾城(Masdar City)。

Yet for Dirk Hebel, assistant professor of architecture and construction at Singapore’s Future Cities Laboratory, Masdar and similar projects borrow too much from older European models.

不過，對於新加坡未來城市實驗室(Future Cities Laboratory)建築設計和建造助理教授德克•赫布爾(Dirk Hebel)而言，馬斯達爾城和類似項目向歐洲舊模式借鑑的地方還是太多。

He says we should not build large-scale cities in defined locations — so drawing on the principles of older cities that needed defensive walls — but plan smaller settlements, some of which may grow, some of which may merge and some of which may stay small.

他說，我們不應在指定地點建設大型城市——從而借鑑那些需要城牆守衛的老城市的原則——而應規劃更小的定居點，其中有些或許會擴大，有些或許會跟其他定居點合併，也有些或許會保持較小規模。

Mr Hebel argues that, while urban planners must still provide infrastructure such as transport systems, health and education services, developments should be more organic. “It should be a system not a single location.”

赫布爾辯稱，儘管城市規劃者仍必須提供交通系統、醫療和教育服務等基礎設施，但開發項目應該在更大程度上是有機的。“它應該是一個系統，而不是一個單一地點。”

Another challenge for new cities is persuading people to move into them.

新城市的另一個挑戰是說服人們去那裏落戶。

“You can populate those cities in China but you need to put [people] in buses and make sure they don’t leave,” says Michele Acuto, director of University College London’s city leadership initiative. He thinks building new cities is a flawed concept. “You could spend exactly the same amount on improving current structures and systems and fostering innovation in existing places.”

“你可以讓中國的城市住上人，但你需要用大巴來搬遷移民，並確保他們不會離開，”倫敦大學學院(University College London)城市領導項目主管米歇爾•阿庫託(Michele Acuto)說。他認爲，興建新城市是個有缺陷的概念。“你可以把興建新城市的資金投入改進現有結構和系統，並在現有的地區培育創新。”

But Ms Moser points to some promising examples, such as Yachay, north of Ecuador’s capital Quito, planned as a centre for scientific, academic, economic and technological research and innovation. Much of its focus has been on sustainability and planting local species to minimise water use.

但是，麥吉爾大學的莫澤指出了一些前景光明的例子，比如厄瓜多爾首都基多(Quito)以北的Yachay，這裏被規劃爲一個科學、學術、經濟以及技術研究和創新中心。其着重點是可持續發展，包括種植當地物種，以儘量減少用水量。

But Ms Moser believes another factor may aid Yachay’s success. Unlike many new cities, it is integrating its existing residents rather than moving them on. Agricultural workers, who may lose jobs once the city expands on to farmland, are being given work in composting plants or raising saplings for the city’s street trees. Others can take courses to give them the skills to open businesses.

但莫澤認爲，另一個因素或許有助於Yachay的成功。跟許多新城市不同的是，Yachay只是在整合現有居民，而不是強迫他們搬遷。因爲城市擴張佔用農田而可能失業的農業勞動者，正得到在堆肥廠工作或者爲城市的行道樹培育幼苗的機會。其他人可以參加培訓課程，學到創辦企業的技能。

How many of the almost 150 brand new cities in her database does Ms Moser think will succeed? “It’s really too soon to tell,” she says.

莫澤認爲，她的數據庫中近150個嶄新的城市裏，有多少個將取得成功？“現在太早了，還無法判斷，”她說。

“One of the keys for what makes a successful city is that it needs patient capital,” says Suzanne Gill, a partner at law firm Wedlake Bell, who runs debates aimed at stimulating discussion about long-term sustainable investments. “Some of these [new] cities are like young men in hurry,” she says. “And some will crash and burn.”

“讓一個城市獲得成功的關鍵之一，是它需要‘耐心的資本’，”衛理貝爾律師事務所(Wedlake Bell)合夥人蘇珊娜•吉爾(Suzanne Gill)說。她組織了多場旨在激勵人們討論長期可持續投資項目的辯論會。“這些新城市中有一些就像是匆忙的年輕男子，”她說。“其中一些將遭遇徹底失敗。”