Smog-choked Beijing plans "ventilation corridors" to provide much-needed fresh air

2016-03-03T14:14:00-05:00

Beijing is stepping up measures to fight against smog and pollution by building a web of ventilation corridors as one of its plans to combat climate issues, according to municipal authorities. “Ventilation corridors can improve wind flow through a city so that wind can blow away heat and pollutants, relieving urban heat island effect and air pollution,” Wang Fei, deputy head of Beijing’s urban planning committee, told Xinhua News Agency.

The planned "ventilation corridors" would range from less than 80 meters to more than 500 meters wide and – hopefully – do what their name suggests, providing a conduit for wind to blow away pollutants like particulate matter.

Five major corridors are planned for the Chinese capital, running primarily from the northern suburbs to the south of the city. One will cross Beijing's central axis, running from Taiping Suburban park down through the Olympic Park and the Temple of Heaven before finally intersecting with the Beijing-Shanghai Highway.

Ventilation corridors have already been carved out of other Chinese cities such as Shanghai, Nanjing, and Wuhan. In Wuhan, planners believe that the corridors have lowered temperatures by as much as 1 to 2 degrees Celsius (urban temperatures and pollution levels correlate).

Beijing has struggled with its pollution problem for many years now, with only marginal improvements following the closure of the city's worst polluting factories. China has also...

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Smog-choked Beijing plans "ventilation corridors" to provide much-needed fresh air