Recently, news came from the Beijing Planning Committee that in order to improve the ventilation of the entire city, Beijing is designing five 500 meter wide ventilation corridors and numerous 80 meter wide ones. The purpose of the corridors is to facilitate air circulation and to disperse the notorious smog, so as to relieve the city from urban heat island effect and air pollution. The ventilation corridors will bring the cold air into the city, reducing the city temperature. Experts also predict that the enhanced air circulation will aid convection. Once completed, the five corridors will connect most of the major city parks and green belts, hopefully covering all four orientations. Many are keen on the idea and have pinned their hope on the possibility of alleviating the pollution situation through the ventilation corridors. People are rather optimistic about the idea of “blowing” the pollution out of the city. However, the effectiveness of the ventilation corridors is yet to be tested. Even if the ventilation corridors vent out the smog and pollution, it is doing so at the price of jeopardizing the air quality of the other cities. In addition, even if the ventilation corridors were to function, it still remains a temporary solution to the air pollution problem. Professor Li Jun from Wu Han University says that to uproot the air pollution problem, one needs to look into its root cause, which is vehicle exhaust and burning coal. Building ventilation system and improve air circulation are merely alternatives that may result in momentary better performance, but could also just postpone the more serious problems. Other people, residing in cities surrounding Beijing, express their concerns that this ventilation corridor is essentially Beijing steering its political and economic influence to their advantage, sacrificing the environment of the nearby cities and the well-being of their people. Although we should remain positive about the effect of the ventilation corridors, we should also bear in mind that it will not be a once and for all solution to the air pollution problem. In addition, solving environmental problems is not about shipping the pollution from the severely polluted area to the less polluted area, so as to achieve balance of pollution. It is about cutting down carbon dioxide emission, reducing coal combustion. The ventilation corridors may vent out the symptoms, but cannot cure the city of its source pollution. This article was written by Katie Mengzhu Chen. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Stan Wiechers via Flickr