In its run-up to World Expo 2010, Shanghai is engaged in another wave of construction, destruction, and reconstruction.

In China there is a saying to the effect that "destruction is easier while construction can be more troublesome". Now it seems that both are easy.

It will be doubtful whether the decision makers, amid the uplifting roar of bulldozers, can still hear the caution voiced by Victor Mallet, a correspondent of the Financial Times, regarding the city's preparations for the Expo (see Page 5, Shanghai Star, November 6-12).

He points out that "... many Western cities, including Paris under its present city government, are trying to curb the use of private cars and promote bicycles and public transport - because they have seen, as Beijing is starting to see, that making more room for cars on the roads just invites more cars and more pollution ..."

No doubt a "pouring of cold water" for bureaucrats bent on solving the city's worsening traffic problem by building more roads.

In fact, restrictive measures on private cars in Beijing and Shanghai are meeting strong resistance for being regressive, conservative, or simplistic.

Ken Livingston, mayor of London, had just been listed for a "Scientific American 50" award for slapping a five-pound tariff to regulate London's City traffic.

The award recognizes the "singular accomplishments of those who have contributed to the advancement of technology in the realms of science, engineering, commerce and public policy".

There may be a time when bureaucrats realize, belatedly, that seeking a narrowly technical solution to the traffic problem is self-defeating.

Chinese officials are usually commended for their pragmatism, their efficiency, their can-do fervour. Most easily marked achievements: ten-lane boulevards, posh airports, high-rises. It will be slightly unsettling to insinuate that wuwei (non-action) can also be part of good government.

Judging by the changes that have been taking place in Shanghai we have good cause to believe that a healthy dose of non-action is sorely needed.

A cliched scene repeatedly invoked in mainstream media: a veteran revolutionary leader is escorted on a tour of the town where he once fought or worked.

"It has changed beyond recognition," the revolutionary exclaims.

This is intended as a word of approbation in the highest degree.

Some changes can be improvement, but in cities redolent with history like Beijing and Shanghai they are often calamitous.

By citing the FT correspondent I do not mean that his comments are quintessentially original.

The late Chen Congzhou, an expert in Chinese ancient architecture and classical gardening, has made similar comments, though from another perspective.

He commented that wide roads are intimidating to pedestrians and shoppers.

Just imagine a stroll down Yan'an Donglu or Pudong's absurd Century Boulevard.

Professor Chen was also strongly opposed to the unsightly Bund embankment, on the assumption that rivers should be allowed to follow their natural course. For sceptics, just find a picture of the Bund 20 years ago and judge for yourself.

During Chen's lifetime he stubbornly refused to visit Yangpu Bridge because he refuse to recognize it as a bridge. According to him, any bridge should be able to be accessed by pedestrians, and the much vaunted bridge was disqualified on this account.

Enough follies have been committed in the name of progress.

Technically, a strong government can build a 200-storey high-rise now.

It takes an even stronger government to resist the impulse to actually have it built.