Although the concept of "garden city" remains unclear and national standards haven't been formulated, it is still becoming a buzzword in China as enthusiasm for the new phenomenon surges. From southeast China's Fujian Province to northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, local governments and media are talking about it and looking forward to its rise, with some cities already developing plans for building a garden city.

Although there's no definition, experts agree it should not be judged by the number of parks built or characterized by the massive construction of parks. Rather, such a city should aim to find a balance between economic development and ecological protection, which will have a positive impact on improving the living environment and quality of urban life.

If parks were isolated islands previously, a garden city is a big system covering a whole city where groups of buildings emerge from parks and gardens. The idea is not to build parks in cities but to turn the whole city into a huge garden.

Currently, the most important thing is not to change the structure of a city or carry out massive greenbelt and park construction, but to activate existing resources by opening up small green spaces to the public. The biggest difficulty in city construction will be managing green land resources under the jurisdiction of different departments.

In addition, the construction of a garden city should consider different cities' conditions instead of adopting a one-size-fits-all model. Moreover, it should be built step by step rather than blindly following the trend. Otherwise, massive tree planting may lead to excessive greening which will be another way of destroying the ecosystem.

(This is an edited excerpt of an article originally published in China Newsweek on June 27)