麦肯锡中国城市可持续发展报告(8)

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4. The gap with global benchmark cities is closing slowly. Over the past few years, most Chinese cities are closing in on benchmark cities such as Tokyo, Seoul and London. But unlike the Chinese cities sampled, benchmark international cities are able to improve their levels of sustainability, whether or not they reach turning points in their development. Leading cities make better use of the economic advantages that high population density brings. They are able to deliver security, social stability and efficient allocation and utilization of resources at the same time. Many Chinese cities, especially those that have passed through the turning points, will have their potential for growth limited if they continue to follow existing models of development. A blind pursuit of economic growth, population expansion, and an increase in population density will prevent sustainable progress. Policy-makers in these cities must learn from leading international cities by seeking out new growth models. These include the construction of smart and low-carbon cities, a strategy that would strengthen the urban capacity of these cities. Policy-makers must also improve city planning, construction and management, in the hope that these cities will able to leapfrog development.

5. Bigger improvements in sustainability are possible for cities at earlier stages of economic development. Increases in productivity (GDP per capita), the rise in scale (population and density), and external factors such as FDI and migration demonstrate a much bigger impact on sustainability for cities at earlier stages of economic development, than when they are at a more mature stage of development.

6. Cities can determine their own future; their fate is not determined by GDP, population size or density. Cities can, at any time in their development, make improvements by leveraging inherent strengths, comparative natural advantage or policy instruments. No uniform laws were identified, from our

sample of 185 cities, to interpret short-term changes in a city’s sustainability using only changes in macro variables.

7. When a city’s economy reaches a certain level of maturity, imbalance

emerges between the economy and the social and environmental aspects. Some rich and large cities are developing at the cost of social and environmental deterioration. Population and economic size expansion cannot help them further without social and environmental sacrifice as they lack advanced city management capabilities.

8. During the transformation from small cities to large ones, small cities should better integrate with cluster cities. This would enable them to leverage the advantages of the cluster while contributing their strengths to the entire cluster.