A new study of 40 cities worldwide found Beijing to be the second unhealthiest city to live in, but very socially inclusive.
In the study, carried out by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, China's capital came 39th out of 40 with regard to ecological issues, particularly the city's all pervading smog. However, Beijing was ranked second best in terms of social inclusiveness.
The annual paper on the development of world cities, released on Wednesday, studied 40 metropolises in terms of economy, society, culture, urban management, ecology and city space.
According to the study, Beijing’s pollution has made the city severely unhealthy to live in and almost "uninhabitable for human beings".
"Beijing’s severe pollution is much worse than the average level [...] and the environment is far from meeting the [safety] standards," the study said.
Hong Kong and Shanghai were deemed only slightly better than Beijing, ranking 34th and 36th respectively. Moscow came last, mainly due to its harsh natural environment and long, bitterly cold winters. Stockholm took first place and can proudly call itself the healthiest metropolis to live in.
Beijing was criticised for its inadequate public health services and relatively high crime rate. However, despite the city’s pitiable environmental performance, Beijing did rank second in terms of social inclusiveness (just behind Paris), beating Tokyo and London. This is mainly due to its low Gini co-efficient (which measures inequality) and ease of access to public services.
In the overall rankings, the top five consisted of Tokyo, London, Paris, New York, and Singapore. Shanghai and Beijing came in at 21 and 31 respectively.
From March 1, new air pollution regulations will take effect in Beijing. The city has vowed to limit and gradually reduce the level of air pollutants by cutting coal burning and limiting car emissions.
On a national level, a 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) fund has been set up to combat air pollution. Deputy environment minister Zhai Qing said at a press conference Wednesday that the Ministry of Environmental Protection will work with other ministries to draw up 22 measures to fight air pollution.
[Image via Flickr]
0 User Comments