Visiting Beijing could pose less of a health risk in coming years, as authorities have announced plans to build "corridors" that would run through the city, allowing air to circulate more effectively and limiting levels of smog. This announcement comes on the heels of dangerously high pollution levels in recent months: In December, the city issued its first-ever red alert warning that temporarily saw half of the city's cars taken off the road and schools closed.

According to Wang Fei, deputy head of Beijing's urban planning committee, who spoke to the Xinhua state news agency on Sunday, five primary corridors will connect the city's parks, rivers, highways, and low-lying areas and will be 500 meters (1640 feet) wide. A number of secondary corridors 80 meters (262 feet) wide will feed into them, to create a ventilation system meant to keep smog from accumulating. Construction projects will be limited within the corridors and any existing obstacles will be removed. A timetable for the initiative has not been released.

This approach to combating pollution is not unprecedented, as similar systems have been under development in a number of other Chinese cities, including Shanghai and Fuzhou, since 2014.

"Ventilation corridors can improve wind flow through a city so that wind can blow away heat and pollutants, relieving the urban heat island effect and air pollution," Wang told Xinhua. An issue not addressed in the plans, however, is the effect the smog could have on surrounding areas, once it has been blown out of the city.

China, the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, has been under increasing pressure from both the international community and residents who have seen pollution-meters and face masks become part of their daily routine, to curb the dangerously high levels of pollution. This city planning approach is the latest in a string of initiatives that have included the shutting down of over 2,000 factories in 2015 and a shift away from coal-fueled power plants.