Headlines

Almost a year after the Japanese Tohoku earthquake and mega-tsunami, the Pacific Ocean is still dealing with the consequences of the catastrophe. A mass of debris was washed out to sea as floodwaters receded from the land, and some of that wreckage continues to float around the ocean. Most of it headed eastwards, according to modelling work by the Hawaii-based International Pacific Research Center. Its staff have given an update to this week's biennial Ocean Sciences meeting. Read More

More than 50 cities in China have wide-spread land subsidence, China Central Television (CCTV) reported Monday. As large as 79,000 square kilometers of land has dropped more than 200 millimeters, mainly due to excesive exploitation of underground water. The subsidence mainly occurs at the Yangtze River Delta, North China and plain areas covering North China's Shanxi province and Northwest China's Shaanxi province. Read More

A new model of compact, environmentally enhanced urban design by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) for the rapid development of satellite cities along Chinese high speed rail corridors has won an international design competition with its Beijing Bohai Innovation City master plan.

Two years ago, 35 miles southwest of Seoul, developer Stan Gale cut the ribbon on the world’s newest city—a man-made isthmus in the Yellow Sea named Songdo International Business District. In 2001, the chairman of New York-based Gale International had pledged to borrow $35 billion to build a city the size of downtown Boston, modeled on Paris, Venice, and Manhattan, complete with a 100-acre “Central Park.” Songdo won’t be finished until at least 2016, but Gale isn’t waiting around. These days, he’s pitching China’s mayors on his city-in-a-box—a kit to build their own smart, green city of the future in as little as three years. Read More