'Human-centered' urbanization a way out of smog: experts

The statement also urged cutting energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, and increasing efficiency in energy use, which is a positive sign toward reaching the goal set by the State Council earlier this year, according to Yi.

Under the goal, the country would rein in consumption of standard coal to less than 4 billion tons, and electricity consumption to under 6.15 trillion kilowatt-hours by 2015.

The statement stressed the importance of developing urban clusters, which Yi said will help fight air pollution, which is not confined to a certain region and would be better dealt with on a larger scale.

"The strategy now is to concentrate people into several urban clusters and control the overall volume of energy consumption and emissions, which will cut emissions and consumption per capita," according to Yi.

The human-centered urbanization model should not simply encourage farmers to swarm into cities, which could put even greater pressure on the environment, as city dwellers emit triple the volume of carbon dioxide as those in the countryside, he explained.

Quality development

Some have argued the smog problem is simply a reflection of China's current economic development model.

The conference statement emphasizes quality development in urbanization and stresses the importance of green and low-carbon development in future urbanization.

The statement shines a spotlight on the "extensive, unsustainable and unscientific use of resources" revealed by the smog, according to Wu Bihu, director of the Center for Recreation and Tourism Research at Peking University.

"Smog suggests a dead end for the traditional urbanization and development model," Wu said, adding that "we have to fundamentally change the economic structure and prompt the development of the service industry."

Promotion of urbanization through the development of the service industry has not been widely accepted, posing a challenge for all of us, Wu added.