Today, China has more than 160 cities with populations over 1 million, and is adding more cities to this category every year. How those cities are planned and built will have significant implications for the future of China and the world. The rapid pace of development in China over the last few decades has led to numerous “business-as-usual” projects, such as roads and parking facilities for cars, as China has become the world’s largest car-buying market. Traffic in Chinese cities is legendary, with frequent reports of traffic jams lasting for weeks on some of the world’s most extensive freeways, many of which feature up to 50 lanes of traffic. At the same time, China is a leader in sustainable transportation, having built more kilometers of transit than the rest of the world combined in the last decade, and continues to have the most extensive bike-sharing programs in the world.
ITDP China works with city governments and agencies to provide technical support for sustainable transit projects and policies, and to promote the replication of these projects and best practices in China and the East Asia region. In partnership with cities, ITDP China’s projects and policies support smart growth that is accessible to all city residents and reduces the environmental costs of transit. These projects include the Guangzhou BRT, which has served as many as a million people per day since opening in 2010; other BRT projects in Lanzhou, Yichang, Tianjin, among other cities; support for greenways, bike sharing, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, complete street projects, parking reform, and road safety.