At our destination, we passed through an entry gate, where we were saluted by two uniformed guards, and proceeded to an elegant marketing showroom complete with a scale model of the entire development and elaborate models of each unit type for sale. The plan was based on repetitive blocks of townhouses and flats; their designs were of high quality, similar to what might be seen in Holland, Germany, or Scandinavia. Vehicular and pedestrian access to the housing units was provided by uniform street grids with limited parking at the units and overflow parking along a fence forming the community's perimeter. Much attention had been paid to landscape design. Streets, sidewalks and pathways of various paving materials were shaded by an array of trees. The project also featured several small parks, schools, a small central commercial area, recreation facilities, and a lake with multiple high-rise residential towers overlooking it.

I quickly estimated the density at approximately 75-100 units per acre (San Francisco averages approximately 35 units per acre). As I explored the project with my Chinese host, who was justifiably proud of its design quality, it dawned on me that what was being sold was a gated, privatized urbanity-a carefully controlled development with an urban theme but without any of the nitty-gritty reality of the city. Moreover, the gated entry gave residents a sense of belonging to a privileged community. It was hard not to interpret this as a form of social segregation.

Our hosts showed us multiple examples of the same model throughout the city-gated superblocks within a grid of new arterial streets at approximately one-mile or 1.2-mile intervals. One opportunistic developer was already in the process of building a gated superblock on the site where we were asked to explore transit-oriented development. Immediately, we became concerned. The project under construction effectively served only the residents within the gated community, blocking pedestrian and bike access to the light rail station for anyone else. Residents of other developments would be forced to walk or bike a mile or more to get around the first development. I wondered: Did our Chinese hosts not see this contradiction? Were they looking for alternatives?

We also knew Chinese gated superblocks comprise the largest part of China's overall development efforts, which are among the most ambitious construction undertakings in the history of the world. The Chinese are building 10-15 gated superblocks every day, equal to 10-12 million housing units per year (10 times the U.S. average). The process benefits from a clear definition of roles. The city builds the new system of arterial roads and then sells the superblock development rights to a developer, who is responsible for constructing a prescribed number of housing units at specific unit sizes, and for providing all internal community facilities and infrastructure, including commercial shopping and offices, schools, recreation facilities, parks and landscaping, and all internal roads, sewage lines, water and power distribution. The process depends on the support of a centralized infrastructure of power plants (usually coal fired) and electric power lines, sewage treatment plants (including sewer mains), and a sanitary water supply provided by the city or provincial utilities. The developer just "plugs in" to these services.

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