Urbanization along the Pearl River Delta
Shenzhen is located along the Pearl River Delta's bay and over almost 2.5 decades, there has been lot of urbanization in the area. In the images below, the colours have been changed to show developments on the ground easier. Pink is green and the earth, while grey is trees and more plant growth, the white is buildings and the mold-like colour means it is a highly built up area. Blue is the delta itself and the lighter the blue it is, the shallow the water. From this information we can tell that over only 24 years, more then half the land has been developed. This is because of the huge increase in people coming to work here, and even though not many of them live in cities along the River Delta, offices, shops, short-term accommodation and other buildings must be built. Majority of the land now has a white tinge to it indicating that buildings have been built there. In this white area, approximately half of it is a deeper colour then just a shade. This indicates that all the land that can be accessed is being built on as much as possible due to this increase of population problem. The river has also become slimmer and shallower due to the need for land causing people to reclaim the land on the river bed. This is has happened a lot in Shenzhen where locals report the bay to be getting further and further away. Go to the 'Urban problems and Solutions' page to find out more.
Shenzhen, Before, During and After becoming a SEZ
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BeforeBefore the big increase in business and becoming China's most successful SEZ, Shenzhen was only a small village. In landscape photo of Shenzhen, most of the land is fields. There are many empty spaces and the earth can still be seen. There are very few buildings and there seem to be no tall ones with most of them appearing to be houses or other residential structures or small shops. |
During
During the 1980's and 1990's, Shenzhen was built fast and is often described as 'built overnight'. In the photo's, there are many construction sites going at once and there are many areas that have been demolished. Small towns house from the old village were flattened to make room for bigger buildings which then meant larger roads and highways needed to be built. The result in all this building is the mega city that Shenzhen is today. |
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After
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Unlike the small village Shenzhen once was, surrouded by nature and inhabited only by the locals, Shenzhen is a huge thriving Mega City populate by millions of locals and foriegnors and renowned as China's most successful SEZ and one of China's most rich cities too. Nearly all the buildings are either apartments, huge offices, Shopping malls with loads of levels or sky scrapers. Some places contain crowed markets, while in others there are strips of nature, and the many national and amusement parks. Over the 2.5 decades, this small village has been transformed into one of the worlds biggest Mega Cities.
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