Qingdao in Shandong province has banned building in key zones along its coastline, as the eastern Chinese city announces its first coastal “setback line”. The move is designed to reduce the impacts of growth and climate change on related ecosystems.
Coastal cities around the world face a growing number of environmental problems, driven by development, habitat loss and climate change. China’s metropolises are no exception.
A renowned tourist destination, Qingdao is home to 10 million people. In recent years, the city has been working to position itself as an international hub for ocean protection and blue finance; this week, it hosts the UN’s first Ocean Decade International Coastal Cities conference.
The city’s new setback line covers 772 square kilometres. Construction is now strictly limited inside the setback line’s core zone (327 square kilometres), which features natural coastlines, ecological shorelines and nature reserves. Some existing buildings in the core zone may even be knocked down. Construction is permitted in the area outside the setback line’s core zone – the “general control” zone – if it complies with set height, density, and volume restrictions.
According to a spokesperson from Qingdao’s Municipal Natural Resources and Planning Bureau: “The delineation of coastal construction setback lines is of great significance for strengthening the protection of coastal ecosystems, mitigating the impact of marine disasters, safeguarding the public’s maritime rights and interests, and promoting the healthy development of coastal areas.”
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the average global sea level has risen by approximately 20 centimetres over the past century, a trend that is accelerating. Projections indicate that by 2050, it will rise by another 10-25 centimetres. This is already impacting coastal areas, causing shoreline erosion, seawater intrusion and the loss of mangroves.
As of 2023, several coastal regions across five provinces in China had proposed setback zones and their control requirements, according to a study by the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences. This includes Shandong, which submitted its proposals in 2021, leading to the establishment of Qingdao’s setback line.
The study, led by the researchers Hou Liping and He Ping, suggests China lacks a unified national standard for setback lines. Existing policies were found to be broad and insufficiently detailed. China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, which covers 2020-2025, calls for exploring a “coastal construction setback line system”. National laws define construction restrictions in this regard, but local standards still vary. As a result, Hou and He said issues such as illegal construction and ecological damage persisted.
Hou and He therefore suggested establishing a unified, national setback line standard, with guidelines based on geology, ecology and sea level. They also recommended strengthening laws; devising plans for modifying problematic buildings; and utilising technologies like remote sensing and big data, which can aid in monitoring extreme weather and issuing early warnings.
