China is experiencing growing pains as urbanization progresses, said Wu Jiang, vice-president of Tongji University of China in Shanghai. "Green urban planning can help ease that pain."

In 1985, China's urbanization rate was below 25 percent, but by 2013 it had shot up to 53.7 percent. This urbanization has been accompanied by increased traffic congestion, pollution and inefficient harnessing and allocation of resources.

The country is not unique in grappling with these problems. More than half the world's population is now believed to live in urban areas, and it is estimated that there will be 5 billion such people by 2030, said Axumite Gebre-Egziabher, director of UN-Habitat's regional office for Africa.

Ninety percent of urban population growth between now and 2030 will take place in developing countries, with the highest urbanization rate expected in Africa, she said.

"Many cities were planned for smaller populations. We have to work on planned expansion."

Cities are the biggest contributors to global warming, emitting as much as 70 percent of human-induced greenhouse gases, and many lack access to water, sanitation and waste management, Gebre-Egziabher said. Many of these cities are also vulnerable to natural disasters promoted by climate change such as storms and floods.

Experts said the key to forestalling such eventualities and providing livable environments comes down to planning well in advance.

For example, public transport can be run very effectively in cities that are compact, making it possible to reduce the number of motor vehicles and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions.

Fourteen Chinese cities will limit urban development this year to control sprawling expansion, Southern Metropolis Daily reported, citing an official from the Ministry of Land and Resources.

Zhang Xiaoling, assistant to the director of the MLR's Institute of Land Surveying and Planning, said cities would be banned from developing past their determined boundaries.

The MLR worked with the Ministry of Housing and Rural-Urban Development in July 2014 to launch the program in order to decide the boundaries for urban development. The 14 cities included in the project are Beijing, Shenyang, Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Xiamen, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Xi'an and Guiyang.

China plans to finalize boundaries to prevent urban sprawl for more than 600 cities. The project may take at least two to three years, Zhang said.

The boundaries mark development space appropriate to the terrain, natural ecosystems, environmental carrying capacity and prime farmland.

Zhang said such limits need to take into consideration a city's projected scale, land use and population migration.

She said China's urbanization is currently widespread and disorderly.

Xie Zhiping, an environmental official in East China's Anhui province, said setting such boundaries may help prevent the creation of ghost towns.

In the past, Beijing announced it would control urban expansion. Experts believe urban sprawl can cause many problems, including excessive population density and strained supplies of energy and other resources.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn