亚穆苏克罗市 谨防新城沦为鬼城

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)的亚穆苏克罗市(Yamoussoukro)，道路宽得可以降落大型喷气式客机，还有一个巨大的总统府和以罗马圣彼得大教堂为蓝本的长方形基督教堂。然而，尽管该市在1983年被定为国家首都，但如今大部分商业与行政活动仍发生在另一座城市阿比让(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.

亚穆苏克罗市未能成为科特迪瓦的主要都市中心，是兴建新城市的宏伟计划并非总能达到预期的一个例子。

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.

从缺乏人气的中国“生态城”，到马来西亚以硅谷为蓝本建设、但至今未能蓬勃发展的赛城(Cyberjaya)，大量证据证明，从一张白纸开始兴建一座城市有多么困难。

“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.

“很多新城的人气发展不及预期，”加拿大麦吉尔大学(McGill University)城市研究主任莎拉•莫泽(Sarah Moser)说。她正跟自己的学生一起编制一个新城市数据库。

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.”

在理论上，支持这些绿地开发的理由十分充足。为快速增长的城市人口安排住屋的压力在加大，尤其是在新兴经济体。这些国家的政策制定者把兴建高科技城市作为加入富国俱乐部的一个发力点。“自1990年代以来，尤其是在过去10年里，这已日益成为‘全球南方’（global south，泛指发展中国家——译者注）国家的一项首选金融战略，”莫泽说。“它被视为实现经济跳跃式发展的一条途径，从原材料生产与加工，迈入新的高科技时代。”

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.

联合国人居署(UN-Habitat)数据显示，城市在人类产生的碳排放的世界总量中占到70%以上，因此一些国家还试图设计“绿色”或“碳中性”城市，比如阿布扎比的马斯达尔城(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.

不过，对于新加坡未来城市实验室(Future Cities Laboratory)建筑设计和建造助理教授德克•赫布尔(Dirk Hebel)而言，马斯达尔城和类似项目向欧洲旧模式借鉴的地方还是太多。

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.

他说，我们不应在指定地点建设大型城市——从而借鉴那些需要城墙守卫的老城市的原则——而应规划更小的定居点，其中有些或许会扩大，有些或许会跟其他定居点合并，也有些或许会保持较小规模。

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.”

赫布尔辩称，尽管城市规划者仍必须提供交通系统、医疗和教育服务等基础设施，但开发项目应该在更大程度上是有机的。“它应该是一个系统，而不是一个单一地点。”

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

新城市的另一个挑战是说服人们去那里落户。

“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.”

“你可以让中国的城市住上人，但你需要用大巴来搬迁移民，并确保他们不会离开，”伦敦大学学院(University College London)城市领导项目主管米歇尔•阿库托(Michele Acuto)说。他认为，兴建新城市是个有缺陷的概念。“你可以把兴建新城市的资金投入改进现有结构和系统，并在现有的地区培育创新。”

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，麦吉尔大学的莫泽指出了一些前景光明的例子，比如厄瓜多尔首都基多(Quito)以北的Yachay，这里被规划为一个科学、学术、经济以及技术研究和创新中心。其着重点是可持续发展，包括种植当地物种，以尽量减少用水量。

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.

但莫泽认为，另一个因素或许有助于Yachay的成功。跟许多新城市不同的是，Yachay只是在整合现有居民，而不是强迫他们搬迁。因为城市扩张占用农田而可能失业的农业劳动者，正得到在堆肥厂工作或者为城市的行道树培育幼苗的机会。其他人可以参加培训课程，学到创办企业的技能。

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.

莫泽认为，她的数据库中近150个崭新的城市里，有多少个将取得成功？“现在太早了，还无法判断，”她说。

“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.”

“让一个城市获得成功的关键之一，是它需要‘耐心的资本’，”卫理贝尔律师事务所(Wedlake Bell)合伙人苏珊娜•吉尔(Suzanne Gill)说。她组织了多场旨在激励人们讨论长期可持续投资项目的辩论会。“这些新城市中有一些就像是匆忙的年轻男子，”她说。“其中一些将遭遇彻底失败。”