Real property tax could make China's cities safer

THE mountain of mud and construction debris that collapsed in Shenzhen, China over the weekend started piling up years ago. But despite complaints and warnings from residents in the area, nobody - neither the city, nor the company responsible for managing the site, nor the contractors who dumped debris there - stopped or diverted the waste to somewhere safer.

The Shenzhen landslide is only the latest in a long line of man-made tragedies that have struck Chinese cities in recent years, including an explosion at a hazardous materials warehouse in Tianjin in August and fatal floods that overwhelmed new sewer infrastructure in Beijing in 2012, not to mention a national air pollution epidemic that shows no sign of abating. Each of these disasters is unique in its own way. But collectively they and other incidents highlight a long-term failure on the part of the Chinese government to plan and build cities that are safe for their residents. Instead, the emphasis has been on growing as much and as fast as possible.

Top officials are not blind to the problem. On Sunday, the day of the Shenzhen disaster, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders were gathered for what state media billed as China's first high-level urban planning conference since 1978. What the country really needs, though, are not better rules or more extensive blueprints. First and foremost, leaders need to change the perverse incentives that drive rampant overdevelopment.