As a city of limited resources and environmental capacity, Shanghai will encounter an adverse influence in sustainable development if it follows the traditional economic growth model of environmental deterioration. In the Year 2000 Shanghai announced that it would establish itself an eco-city by the Year 2015 by way of five three-year action plans, however it will be a long, difficult process to convert the old industrialized urban areas into new ecological areas. Chongming will leap-frog this process in terms of its development, by making use of its advantages to establish itself as a model ecological city in the Shanghai area, providing an instant experience and insights for the eventual complete implementation of the economic mechanism for sustainable development in Shanghai.

2. Eco-construction in Chongming can set a model for sustainable development in China and worldwide.

In 1997 China nominated Shanghai, Hebei, Shanxi, Jiangxi, Sichuan and other provinces, municipalities and major cities as experimental areas nationwide to implement "China's Agenda for the 21st Century", in order to find a route of sustainable development with Chinese characteristics and that experimented by selecting traditional, representative and model areas. Located at the intersection between East China's coastal economic belt and the Changjiang River economic belt, Shanghai will become an international economic, financial and trade center, so it is essential for Shanghai to take advantage of opportunities and utilize its geographical advantages to realize sustainable development and set a model for the nationwide implementation of "China's Agenda for the 21st Century".

Differing from other ecological models, Chongming will become the first model area of eco-construction in China with four unique targets as follows:

(1) To establish an experimental area that covers complete three-way development.

In achieving an effective all-round development, Chongming's development must break through simplistic industrial age concepts that development is measured only at the GDP level. It is necessary to set up a modern index system that embraces economical, social and environmental factors with a domestic accounting system that has a genuine savings mentality, based on studies of international experience. The whole development should adhere to the concepts of "three-way growth" and the harmonious development of industry, community and the environment. In these ways Chongming should set a model for Shanghai and the rest of China, by taking the lead in promoting the essence of modernization.

(2) To be the innovator and incubator for new eco-technologies and a full-cycle economy.