北京擬建通風廊道"吹"霧霾

When Beijing experiences bouts of pollution that blacken the skies and burn the lungs, residents often joke that the Chinese capital needs to build giant fans to clear out the toxic air. Mountains to the north and west help trap smog in the city, and a stiff breeze from Mongolia is the surest way to ensure somewhat cleaner air.

北京所經歷的一輪輪污染，讓天空變得灰暗，使人們感到肺部灼燒。居民們經常開玩笑說，北京需要樹一些巨型風扇，來把這種有毒空氣吹走。位於北部和西部的山巒把霧霾困在城裏，而來自蒙古的強風則是讓空氣變潔淨的最有力保障。

Beijing officials are now considering ways to help that process. Though giant fans are not on the menu, at least not yet, city planners are looking at ways to create corridors that encourage wind flow through the capital. The plan is inspired by research on urban heat islands, which shows that large buildings that block the wind are one of the causes of higher average temperatures in cities as opposed to those in the countryside.

北京的官員目前正在考慮，怎樣才能推動這一過程。雖然沒打算建巨型風扇——至少目前沒有——城市規劃部門正在想辦法開闢一些能讓風吹過北京的廊道。該計劃受到了關於城市熱島效應的研究的啓發。研究表明，擋住空氣流通的大型建築物是導致城市地區平均溫度比鄉村更高的原因之一。

Some critics of the plan say that Beijing, a city of 21 million people, is already so developed — with some suburbs expanding 30 miles or more from the city center — that adding restrictions on future construction will have little effect. They say the persistent air pollution problem will be solved only by controlling emissions from cars, factories, power plants and other sources.

對計劃持批評態度的一些人表示，北京這座城市擁有2100萬人口，開發程度已經相當之高——部分郊區距離市中心有50公里，乃至更遠——所以對未來的建設項目加以限制，不會產生多少效果。他們認爲，只有控制來自汽車、工廠、發電廠和其他來源的排放，才能解決揮之不去的空氣污染問題。

“This isn’t controlling pollution. It’s diverting it,” Wang Bing, a Beijing-based author, wrote on Sina Weibo.

“這不是治理而是轉移霧霾！”長居北京的作家餘耕（原名王兵）在新浪微博上寫道。

But the plan has received some interest from residents who have grown weary of repeated periods of heavy pollution that is several times in excess of domestic and international air quality standards. Because of rigorous short-term pollution controls, including taking huge numbers of cars off the road each day, Beijing enjoyed relatively clear skies when it hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting this month. But dangerously poor air quality returned soon after the summit-related restrictions were dropped.

但是，這一計劃卻在居民中間引發了一些興趣。北京反覆出現超過國內和國際大氣質量標準數倍的嚴重污染，讓市民忍無可忍。本月，在舉辦亞太經濟合作組織(Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation)峯會期間，由於採取嚴格的短期污染控制措施，包括每天對大量汽車限行，北京享受到了相對澄澈的天空。但是，在與峯會相關的限制措施取消後，具有毒害性的糟糕空氣質量又立刻重現。

The Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design is now investigating how limits on building height and location along six corridors may improve air flow in four areas, The Beijing News reported on Friday. Those areas are the central north-south axis through the Drum and Bell Towers, the central business district on the city’s east side, the Shilihe District in the southeast and a west-east corridor running through Qianmen.

據《新京報》上週五報道，北京市城市規劃設計研究院正在研究，限制六條廊道沿線的建築物高度和地點，從而有望給四個區域的空氣流通帶來改善。涉及的區域分別是北辰路-鼓樓大街一帶、CBD東擴區、位於東南部的十里河區域，以及東西走向的前三門護城河。

Peng Yingdeng, an air pollution expert at the Beijing Municipal Research Institute of Environmental Protection, told the newspaper that the plan would not involve any large-scale demolition or construction, but it was more likely to entail an adjustment of current regulations to limit building heights and densities in specified areas. Similar proposals are under consideration in other major Chinese cities including Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shenyang and Wuhan.

北京市環境保護科學研究院的空氣污染專家彭應登告訴《新京報》，在實施該計劃的過程中，不會大拆大建，而是對目前的規定進行調整，以限制特定區域的建築高度和密度。杭州、南京、瀋陽和武漢等其他一些中國大城市也在考慮類似提議。

“This kind of work to search for ways to reduce pollution is really worth applauding,” the state-run news agency Xinhua said in a commentary. “If scientists confirm it is effective, then we should promote it on a much larger scale.”

“這樣的人工治霾探索值得鼓勵，”官方媒體新華社在一篇評論文章中表示。“如果經科學評估確實見效，則應在更大範圍推廣。”

Some experts have expressed doubts that the plan would make a significant difference. Episodes of serious pollution are usually associated with periods of little or no wind, and air corridors do little good if the wind isn’t blowing, Song Guojun, an environmental science professor at Renmin University, told The Beijing News. Solving the air pollution problem ultimately requires controlling pollution sources, he said.

有些專家對這個計劃將帶來多大改變心存疑問。中國人民大學環境學院教授宋國君在接受《新京報》採訪時說，北京每次遇到重污染通常都與基本無風的靜穩狀況有關，如果沒有風，風道也起不到什麼作用。他表示，解決空氣污染問題，最終還是要靠治理污染源。

“For most parts of the downtown area, counting on air corridors in the suburbs to reduce pollution levels may not be realistic,” Zhang Zengjie, a researcher from the Beijing Municipal Research Institute of Environmental Protection, told the state-run newspaper China Daily earlier this year.

今年早些時候，北京市環境保護科學研究院的研究員張增傑告訴官媒《中國日報》，“對於市中心大部分地區而言，依靠市郊的風道來降低污染水平，或許不太現實。”