5.2.2 Man-made Disaster Risks in Jinan
Inconceivably, there are greater risks associated with human factors than natural disasters.The excessive activities of human beings aggravate the destructive power of natural hazards.Human factors like construction of roads and railways, deforestation, mining and other economic activities can cause landslides, debris flow, mountain collapse and other disasters.The large reservoirs can often induce earthquakes, with more than 100 cases having been reported globally.[16]In 2008, the 7.9 magnitude Sichuan earthquake killed an estimated 80,000 people, which was triggered by a four-year-old reservoir Zipingpu Dam.[17]Meanwhile, ongoing urbanization has also led to a great risk to historic buildings due to impropriate planning, deliberate demolition, incongruous new construction, excessive traffic and heritage misuse.Impropriate reconstruction and management have undermined the authenticity and integrity of heritage sites as well.
5.2.2.1 Urbanization in Jinan
Urbanization represents the progress of human civilization, and brings many benefits such as economy development, job opportunities, education improvement and so forth.However, urbanization also causes a bunch of problems, such as densification, traffic congestion, overburdened infrastructure, land-cover changes, biodiversity loss, environment degradation, reduction of agriculture, reduction of biodiversity, housing shortages and other ‘city disease’.Demand for housing and other facilities affected the ecological environment and cultural surroundings, while the decrease in agriculture lands has caused local food shortages.Cultural heritage sites are also jeopardized by this progression.There is a serious conflict between the process of modern city construction and traditional city living areas.Numerous valuable ancient living areas were replaced with modern skyscrapers.These various man-made disaster and risks put tremendous pressure on urban heritage, impacting the architectural heritage sites and their surroundings.
According to the Jinan Civil Affairs Records, after city liberation in 1948, the scope of Jinan city was North to Yellow River, west to the Da Yinma Village, East to Hong Jialou and South to Qianfo Mountain.The total area of the city was only 157.62 square kilometers, with a total population of 468,826.In 1978, the urbanization rate of Jinan was 23%.Since the Reform and Opening-up, Jinan City began to enter the urbanization stage.By 1985, the urban area of Jinan reached 483 square kilometers.Through 6 years of construction, the urban area in 1991 reached 2,119 square kilometers.[18]
Entering the 21th century, Jinan city began a rapid urbanization period.In 2002, the urban area of Jinan reached 3,257 square kilometers.[19]In 2003, the Jinan Municipal Government, while planning to expand the urban area, proposed the ‘Sparse Middle’ policy, evacuated the population and traffic pressures of ancient town, and started to protect the ancient areas of Jinan.In the Master Plan of Jinan City (2011-2020), Jinan will be built into an important economic center, logistics center, science and technology innovation center, and a central city in the Southern area of the Bohai Sea region.
By 2013, the urban layout of Jinan has improved significantly, and the speed of expansion has also accelerated significantly, while the quality of urban development has improved.A large number of people have moved to the city.The new areas such as scenic tourist areas, entertainment and recreation areas, science and education areas have been completed.The urbanization rate has reached 66%.At the same time, the tourism industry has undergone rapid development.In this year, Jinan received 51.265 million domestic and foreign tourists, comprised of 50.598 million domestic tourists and 307,000 foreign tourists.[20]In 2017, the city’s urbanization rate exceeded 70%, 12 percentage points higher than the national average.[21]In January 2018, the General Office of Jinan issued the document Jinan National New Urbanization Comprehensive Pilot Implementation Plan, in which estimated that the urbanization rate of permanent residents will be around 72% in 2018.[22]In 2019, the urban area was expanded to 3,257 square kilometers, with a total area of 10,244 square kilometers and a resident population of 8.7 million in whole Jinan region.It is estimated that in 2020, Jinan city’s urbanization level will be more than 75%.[23]
5.2.2.2 The Impact of Urbanization on Heritage Sites of Jinan
With a large number of outstanding historical buildings, ancient streets and environments, the ancient town of Jinan is a complete historic area.Under the trend of a rapid urbanization, in recent years, construction projects in this area has become an important issue, impacting the quality of these historic sites.
Undeniable, the urbanization of this ancient town has the positive effect, which will promote the optimization and upgrading of the old city.In the process of urbanization, Jinan old town area updating process involves more than ten commercial and residential projects.Those projects attract developers to participate in urban transformation, improving the infrastructure and adjusting urban functions, greatly improving the quality of life for the residents.However, urbanization also has a negative impact on the ancient town.Jinan city was declared a national level historical and cultural city in 1986.The historical and cultural values of the ancient town were essential for this declaration.However, the ancient town at the end of the 20th century has been hit by an unprecedented number of related impacts with the increases in population, traffic pressure, infrastructure modernization and commercial development.The constant creation of new buildings and spaces is at the expense of historical heritage sites and the destruction of natural resources.For example, in 1992, the historic building Jinpu Railway Station was demolished.In 1999, the construction of the grand scale of Quancheng Square is at the expense of the destruction of several old streets and historical buildings.The establishment of the new image of Quancheng Square led to the development of high-rise buildings in the surrounding area, including the ancient town.The ancient streets and the cultural relics along the streets, such as Bang Peng Street, Tian Di Tan Street, and County West Alley, were demolished and be replaced by large-scale business districts.The traditional style of Jinan Ancient Town has been greatly changed.
Furthermore, the impact of urbanization on the geographical environment is obvious.Due to the increase in water impervious areas such as buildings and hardened roads, the amount of underground water has decreased, which has led to the phenomenon of ‘broken spray’ in the spring area of Jinan.The Baotu Spring and Black Tiger Spring have been ‘broken spray’ for three consecutive years since 1997.This phenomenon caused the decline of tourism industry of Jinan.Meanwhile, the modern transportation facilities have a negative impact not only on the atmosphere of the ancient area, but deteriorate the quality of the environment.Winter smog now occurs in Jinan City often, which has directly caused the decline of air quality.High-rise buildings have also a negative impact on the atmosphere of the remaining historic areas (Fig.5-14).
Figure 5-14.Urbanization Threatens the Ancient
● Inadequate Urban Planning
Urban overpopulation requires the continuous expansion of cities, creating an endless cycle of building projects.Meanwhile, the demand for modern living has prompted increased construction in cities.However, this process has resulted in a large number of valuable historic architectures being damaged to various degrees, even deliberately demolished, becoming the victims of urbanization.Due to the improper urban planning decisions, architectural heritage sites have become an isolated island in modern architecture, destroying cultural integrity and continuity.In 2013 in Jinan, the original surrounding of a hundred-year historic personality’s residence was demolished.
● Heavy Urban Traffic
The flow of public transport has an impact on architectural heritage sites.Air and noise pollution caused by crowded urban traffic affect building quality and degrade the environment.Physical vibrations produced by traffic deteriorates the quality of historic buildings.[24]Exhaust gases and dust are chemically corrosive to heritage building materials.Furthermore, traffic accidents can have a direct impact the buildings (Fig.5-15).(https://www.daowen.com)
Figure 5-15.Traffic Jam in Jinan
● Urban Ecological Risks
The discharge of massive pollutants in the city every day leads to environmental changes including air pollution, water pollution and soil pollution.Dust in the air, chemicals in rain and snow can corrode the materials of architectural façade.Meanwhile, unintentional poison leakage, radioactive material diffusion due to industrial accidents cause degradation of the ecological environment.For example, the fine particulate matter PM 2.5 in the air produced by coal combustion and mining of construction materials lead to well-known Jinan air pollution events, resulting in urban climate disasters such as acid rain, corroding the surface material of the historic sites (Fig.5-16).In 2015, Jinan published a list of air pollutant source emissions.The data showed that the emission of Jinan fine particulate matter PM2.5 was as high as 95826.2 tons.The main sources of emissions were processing, dust and stationary combustion sources which attributed to the steel industry (43%) and road dust (17%), civil source (12%), and 21.5% of fine particulate matter PM2.5 comes from motor vehicle exhaust.
Figure 5-16.Air Pollution in Jinan
According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, from the data released in October 2015 that detailed the air quality status of 74 cities in the country, Jinan’s pollution level ranked highest in the country.Meanwhile, frequent chemical industrial accidents have caused degradation of the ecological environment of Jinan.For example, on 15th April 2019, A major accident occurred during the pipeline repair process inside the basement of the Qilu Tianhe Huishi Pharmaceutical factory located in Jinan.Additionally, one month later, on 13th May 2019, a fire accident occurred in the watersoluble slurry workshop of Jinan, resulting in property damages and environmental pollution.
Figure 5-17.Flood on 18thJuly 2007 in Jinan
● Technological Disaster Risks
The development of science and technology, while benefiting human society, has also led to disaster risks due to carelessness in operation and management, thereby posing threats to architectural heritage sites.Technological disasters such as electric fires, gas explosions and urban floods due to the ground materials and imperfect drainage systems, have seriously impacted the heritage sites.For example, during the rainy summer of Jinan, Floods in city center occur frequently (Fig.5-17).
● Criminal Activities
The high levels of urbanization and the gap between rich and poor area has led to an increase in criminal phenomenon that threaten social stability.The number of criminal cases in 2011 had increased to 5.8 times of its 1978 level.[25]The criminal activities in city area such as arson, terrorist attacks, burglaries of cultural relics have resulted in the serious damage to architectural heritage sites.In particular, the illegal purchase and sale of cultural relics have led to vandalism of building heritage artifacts, destroying the quality of these sites.
● Disaster Risks in Heritage Usage
The best method for preserving architectural heritage is to use it.However, there are various risks brought by regular usage.Improper function, excessive renewal, neglected maintenance needs and improper management have led to building damage to varying degrees.Additionally, the architectural heritage sites open for tourism also face deterioration due to negative tourist behavior, causing changes to the condition and integrity of historic sites by mechanical interactions such as trampling and handling.[26]
With the demand for improvements in living quality, the upgrading of facilities is inevitable.However, combining these modern conveniences with architectural heritage sites is a challenge.Inappropriate facilities updating not only affects the culture and the aesthetic value of architectural heritage but also causes risks due to fire, flooding, or explosion, threatening the safety of buildings.For example, the location of utility poles, wires, cables, air conditioners and other conveniences is a common phenomenon that affects the quality of architectural heritage.